THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT 

From  the  Library  of 

Henry  Goldman,   Ph.D. 

1886-1972 


ALLIED    WITH     SCIENCE 


A  CATECHISM  FOR 
PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS 


BY 

SIR  OLIVER  LODGE 

Principal  of  the  University  of  Birmingham 

AUTHOR  OF 

"  MODERN  VIEWS  ON  MATTER  " 

"SOMB  SOCIAL  REFORMS" 

"  LIFE  AND  MATTER  " 

ETC.,  BTC. 


'Gloriam  quaesi-vit  scientiarum, 
invenit  Dei." 


HARPER  &•  BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

MCMVII 


Copyright,  1907,  by  HARPRK  &  BROTHERS. 

All  rights  rtservtd. 

Published  March,  1907. 


Stack 

Anne* 


PREFACE 

EVERY  one  who  has  to  do  with  children  at  the 
present  day,  directly  or  indirectly,  must  in  some 
form  or  another  have  felt  the  difficulty  of  instruct- 
ing them  in  the  details  of  religious  faith,  without 
leaving  them  open  to  the  assaults  of  doubt  here- 
after, when  they  encounter  the  results  of  scientific 
inquiry. 

Sometimes  the  old  truths  and  the  new  truths 
seem  to  conflict;  and  though  every  one  must  be 
aware  that  such  internecine  warfare  between 
truths  can  be  an  appearance  only,  the  reconcilia- 
tion is  not  easily  perceived :  nor  is  the  task  simpli- 
fied by  the  hostile  attitude  adopted  towards  each 
other  by  some  of  the  upholders  of  orthodox  Chris- 
tianity. 

It  is  sometimes  said  to  be  impossible  for  a 
teacher  to  educate  a  class  subject  to  compulsory 
attendance,  in  a  spirit  of  wealth,  peace,  and  Godli- 
ness, without  infringing  the  legitimate  demands  of 
somebody;  but  the  difficulty  is  caused  chiefly  by 
sectarian  animosity,  which  may  take  a  variety  of 
forms. 

These  religious  and  educational  disputes  would 


iv        THE    SUBSTANCE    OF    FAITH 

be  of  small  consequence,  and  might  even  be  stim- 
ulating to  thought  and  fervor,  were  it  not  that  one 
danger  is  imminent: — a  danger  lest  the  nation,  in 
despair  of  a  happier  settlement,  should  consent  to 
a  system  of  compulsory  secularism;  and  forbid,  in 
the  public  part  of  the  curriculum  of  elementary 
schools,  not  only  any  form  of  worship,  but  any 
mention  of  a  Supreme  Being,  and  any  quotation 
from  the  literature  left  us  by  the  Saints,  Apostles, 
Prophets,  of  all  ages. 

If  so  ghastly  a  negation  is  brought  about  by  the 
warfare  of  Denominations  it  will  be  a  most  lam- 
entable result. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  hope  and  belief  that  the  great 
bulk  of  the  teachers  of  this  country  are  eager  and 
anxious  to  do  their  duty,  and  lead  the  children 
committed  to  their  care  along  the  ways  of  right- 
eousness,— being  deterred  therefrom  in  some  cases 
only  by  the  difficulty  of  following  out  their  ideals 
amid  the  turmoil  of  voices,  and  in  other  cases  by 
their  uncertainty  of  how  far  the  "old  paths"  can 
still  be  pursued  in  the  light  of  modern  knowledge, 
—I  have  attempted  the  task  of  formulating  the 
fundamentals,  or  substance,1  of  religious  faith  in 
terms  of  Divine  Immanence,2  in  such  a  way  as  to 


*"  By  Substance  I  understand  that  which  exists  in  and  by 
itself"  (Spinoza). 

*We  may  say  much,  yet  not  attain;  and  the  sum  of  our 
words  is.  He  is  all  (Ecclesiasticus  xliii.  27). 


PREFACE  v 

assimilate  sufficiently  all  the  results  of  existing 
knowledge,  and  still  to  be  in  harmony  with  the 
teachings  of  the  poets  and  inspired  writers  of  all 
ages.  The  statement  is  intended  to  deny  nothing 
which  can  reasonably  be  held  by  any  specific  De- 
nomination, and  it  seeks  to  affirm  nothing  but  what 
is  consistent  with  universal  Christian  experience. 
Our  knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion  is  ad- 
mittedly derived  from  information  verbally  com- 
municated, and  from  documents;  and,  in  the 
interpretation  of  these  sources,  mistakes  have  been 
made.  At  one  time,  not  long  ago,  it  was  the  duty 
of  serious  students  of  all  kinds  to  point  out  some 
of  these  mistakes,  wherever  they  ran  counter  to 
sense  and  knowledge.  That  cleaning  and  sweet- 
ening work  has  been  done  vigorously,  and  done 
well:  at  the  present  time  comparatively  little 
sweeping  remains  to  be  done,  save  in  holes  and 
corners :  most  of  the  lost  simplicity  has  now  been 
found.  A  positive  or  constructive  statement  of 
religious  doctrine,  not  indeed  deduced  from  pres- 
ent knowledge,  but  in  harmony  with  all  that  bears 
upon  the  subject,  is  now  more  useful.  Such  a 
statement  might  be  called  "New  Light  on  Old 
Paths";  for  the  "old  paths"  remain,  and  are  more 
brightly  illuminated  than  ever:  even  the  old  Gen- 
esis story  of  man's  early  experience  shines  out  as 
a  brilliant  inspiration.  Truth  always  grows  in 
light  and  beauty  the  more  it  is  uncovered. 


Iff 


vi        THE    SUBSTANCE    OF    FAITH 

There  are  still  people  who  endeavor  to  deny 
or  disbelieve  the  discoveries  of  science.  They  are 
setting  themselves  athwart  the  stream,  and  trying 
to  stop  its  advance; — they  only  succeed  in  stopping 
their  own.  They  are  good  people,  but  unwise,  and, 
moreover,  untrustful.  If  they  will  let  go  their 
anchorage,  and  sail  on  in  a  spirit  of  fearless  faith, 
they  will  find  an  abundant  reward,  by  attaining  a 
deeper  insight  into  the  Divine  Nature,  and  a  wider 
and  brighter  outlook  over  the  destiny  of  man. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

PREFACE — ON  RELIGIOUS  TEACHING      ...  iii 
INTRODUCTION — A  PLEA   FOR  SYMPATHY  AND 

BREADTH       i 

I.  THE  ASCENT  OF  MAN 8 

II.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CONSCIENCE  ....  22 

III.  CHARACTER  AND  WILL 26 

IV.  DUTY  AND  SERVICE 34 

V.  GOODNESS  AND  BEAUTY  AND  GOD     ....  38 

VI.  MAN  A  PART  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 44 

VII.  THE  NATURE  OF  EVIL 48 

VIII.  THE  MEANING  OF  SIN 54 

IX.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LIFE 60 

X.  COSMIC  INTELLIGENCE 66 

XI.  IMMANENCE 70 

XII.  HIGHER  FACULTIES,  OR  SOUL  AND  SPIRIT     .     .  82 

XIII.  THE  REALITY  OF  GRACE  AND  OF  INCARNATION  90 

XIV.  THE  TRUTH  OF  INSPIRATION 98 

XV.  A  CREED 102 

XVI.  THE   LIFE  ETERNAL 112 

XVII.  THE   COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS 120 

XVIII.  PRAYER 124 

XIX.  THE   LORD'S  PRAYER 128 

XX.  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 130 

APPENDIX.     THE  CLAUSES  REPEATED    .     .     .  136 


viii      THE    SUBSTANCE    OF    FAITH 


REFERENCES   TO    QUOTATIONS 


iv  "Old  paths" 

15  "Hear  no  yelp"    . 

24  "Then  welcome"  . 
as  "We  fall  to  rise" 

25  "Nor  shall  I  deem" 
32  "If  my  body" 

35  "Our  wills" 

39  "The  old  order"   . 

41  "Lilies  that  fester" 

45  "All  tended" 

46  "He  hath  shewed  thee" 

50  "The  best  is  yet  to  be" 

51  "My  son,  the  world"     . 

52  "There  shall  never  be" 

53  "No  ill  no  good" 

58  "All  we  have  willed"    . 

63  "Where  dwells  enjoyment"    . 

64  "God  tastes  an  infinite" 

71  "  wdrra  ptt  xai  ovitv  /ut'vci," 

CEverything  flows  and  nothing 

71  "The  hills  are  shadows" 

79  "warra  w  \rjpt]  Bfav  " 

(All  things  are  full  of  gods.) 

79  "Earth's  crammed" 

84  "Our  birth" 

87  "We  are  such  stuff" 

89  "Climb  the  mount" 

92  "That  none  but  Gods" 
Q3  "Flash  of  the  will" 

93  "All  through  my  keys" 

95  '"Tis  the  sublime" 

96  "Enough  that  he  heard  it"   . 
108  "A  sun  but  dimly  seen" 

114  "But  that  one  ripple"  . 

119  "Signs  of  his  coming"  . 

123  "Then  stirs  the  feeling" 

123  "n  *KX«»  r<f  o\<f  M»M««Tai  " 

(Spirit  permeates  the  whole.) 

123  "Whose  dwelling" 

132  "Their  prejudice" 

134  "And  we  the  poor  earth's"   . 


Jer.  vi.  1 6. 

Tennyson,  "By  an  Evolutionist. 
Browning,  "Rabbi  Ben  Ezra." 
Browning,    "Asolando." 
Browning,  "Paracelsus." 
Tennyson,  "By  an  Evolutionist 
Tennyson,  "In  Memoriam." 
Tennyson,  "Idylls." 
Shakespeare,  Sonnet  94. 
Browning,  "Paracelsus." 
Micah  vi.  8. 

Browning,  "Rabbi  Ben  Ezra." 
Tennyson,  "Ancient  Sage." 
Browning,  "Abt  Vogler." 
Tennyson,  "Ancient  Sage." 
Abt  Vogler." 
Paracelsus." 
Paracelsus." 


Browning, 
Browning, 
Browning, 
Heraclitus. 
abides.) 
Tennyson, 


'In  Memoriam." 


Thales,  quoted  by  Aristotle. 

Mrs.  Browning,  "Aurora  Leigh." 
Wordsworth,  "Immortality." 
Shakespeare,  "Tempest." 
Tennyson,   "Ancient  Sage." 
Tennyson,  "By  an  Evolutionist." 
Browning,  "Abt  Vogler." 
Browning,  "Abt  Vogler." 
Coleridge,    "Religious  Musings." 
Browning,   "Abt  Vogler." 
Tennyson,   "Akbar's   Dream." 
Tennyson,   "Ancient  Sage." 
W.  Morris,  "Love  is  enough." 
Byron,  "Childe   Harold." 
Aristotle,  "De  Anima  " 

Wordsworth,  "Tintern  Abbey." 
Browning,  "Paracelsus." 
Tennyson,  "Ancient  Sage." 


THE  SUBSTANCE  OF  FAITH 


INTRODUCTION 

THERE  is  a  growing  conception  of  religion  which 
regards  it  not  as  a  thing  for  special  hours  or  special 
days,  but  as  a  reality  permeating  the  whole  of  life. 
The  old  attempt  to  partition  off  a  region  where 
Divine  action  is  appropriate,  from  another  region 
in  which  such  action  would  be  out  of  place — the 
old  superstition  that  God  does  one  thing  and  not 
another,  that  He  speaks  more  directly  through  the 
thunder  of  catastrophe  or  the  mystery  of  miracle 
than  through  the  quiet  voice  of  ordinary  existence 
—all  this  is  beginning  to  show  signs  of  expiring  in 
the  light  of  a  coming  day. 

Those  to  whom  such  a  change  is  welcome  regard 
it  as  of  the  utmost  importance  that  this  incipient 
recognition  of  a  Deity  immanent  in  History  and  in 
all  the  processes  of  Nature  shall  be  guided  and 
elevated  and  made  secure.  Ancient  formularies 
must  be  reconsidered  and  remodelled  if  they  are 
to  continue  to  express  eternal  verities  in  language 
corresponding  to  the  enlarged  acquaintance  with 
natural  knowledge  now  possessed  by  humanity. 

Nevertheless  the  attempt  to  draw  up  anything  of 


4         THE    SUBSTANCE    OF    FAITH 

the  nature  of  a  creed  or  catechism,  unhallowed  by 
centuries  of  emotion  and  aspiration,  is  singularly 
difficult;  and  to  obtain  general  acceptance  for  such 
a  production  may  be  impossible. 

Every  Denomination  is  likely  to  prefer  its  own 
creed  or  formula,  especially  if  it  has  the  aroma  of 
antiquity  upon  it — an  aroma  of  high  value  for 
religious  purposes  and  more  easily  destroyed  than 
replaced.  No  carefully  drawn  statement  can  be 
expected  to  go  far  enough  to  satisfy  religious  en- 
thusiasts: it  is  not  possible  to  satisfy  both  scien- 
tific and  distinctively  denominational  requirements. 
All  this  might  be  admitted,  and  yet  it  may  be  pos- 
sible to  lay  a  sound  foundation  such  as  can  stand 
scientific  scrutiny  and  reasonable  rationalistic  at- 
tack— a  foundation  which  may  serve  as  a  basis  for 
more  specific  edification  among  those  who  are 
capable  of  sustaining  a  loftier  structure. 

Even  though  not  yet  fully  attainable,  it  is  per- 
missible to  hope  for  more  union  than  exists  at 
present  among  professing  Christians,  and  among 
the  branches  of  the  Christian  Church.  With  some 
excellent  people  the  differences  and  distinguishing 
marks  loom  out  as  of  special  importance;  but  from 
these  I  can  hardly  claim  attention.  I  must  speak 
to  those  who  try  to  seize  points  of  agreement,  and 
who  long  for  the  time  when  all  Christian  workers 
may  be  united  in  effort  and  friendliness  and  co- 
operation, though  not  in  all  details  of  doctrine. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

On  the  practical  side,  a  concurrence  of  effort  for 
the  amelioration  and  spiritualization  of  human  life, 
in  the  light  of  a  common  gospel  and  a  common 
hope,  is  not  impossible;  and  on  the  theoretical 
side,  in  spite  of  legitimate  difference  of  belief  on 
difficult  and  infinite  problems,  there  must  be  a 
mass  of  fundamental  material  on  which  a  great 
majority  are  really  agreed. 

But  a  foundation  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for 
superstructure:  a  full-fledged  and  developed  re- 
ligion needs  a  great  deal  more  than  foundation — 
there  must  be  a  building  too.  The  warmth  and 
vitality  imparted  by  strong  religious  conviction  is 
a  matter  of  common  observation,  and  is  a  force 
of  great  magnitude;  but  it  is  a  personal  and  living 
thing,  it  cannot  be  embodied  in  a  formula  or  taught 
in  a  class.  Here  lies  the  proper  field  of  work  of 
the  Churches.  What  can  be  taught  in  a  school  is 
the  fundamental  substratum  underlying  all  such 
developments  and  personal  aspirations;  and  it  can 
be  dealt  with  on  a  basis  of  historical  and  scientific 
fact,  interpreted  and  enlarged  by  the  perceptions 
and  experiences  of  mankind. 

A  creed  or  catechism  should  not  be  regarded  as 
something  superhuman,  infallible,  and  immutable; 
it  should  be  considered  to  be  what  it  really  is — a 
careful  statement  of  what,  in  the  best  light  of  the 
time,  can  be  regarded  as  true  and  important  about 
matters  partially  beyond  the  range  of  scientific 


6          THE    SUBSTANCE    OF    FAITH 

knowledge:  it  must  always  reach  farther  into  the 
unknown  than  science  has  yet  explored. 

An  element  of  mystery  and  difficulty  is  not  in- 
appropriate in  a  creed,  although  it  may  be  primarily 
intended  for  comprehension  by  children.  Bare 
bald  simplicity  of  statement,  concerning  things 
keenly  felt  but  imperfectly  known,  cannot  be  per- 
fectly accurate;  and  yet  every  effort  should  be 
made  to  combine  accuracy  and  simplicity  to  the 
utmost.  Every  word  should  be  carefully  weighed 
and  accurately  used:  mere  conventional  terminol- 
ogy should  be  eschewed.  A  sentence  stored  in  the 
memory  may  evolve  different  significations  at  dif- 
ferent periods  of  life,  and  at  no  one  period  need  it 
be  completely  intelligible  or  commonplace.  The 
ideal  creed  should  be  profound  rather  than  ex- 
plicit, and  yet  should  convey  some  sort  of  meaning 
even  to  the  simplest  and  most  ignorant.  Its  terms, 
therefore,  should  not  be  technical,  though  for  full 
comprehension  they  would  have  to  be  understood 
in  a  technical  or  even  a  recondite  sense. 

To  make  a  statement  of  this  kind  useful,  it  is 
necessary  to  accompany  each  clause  with  some 
indication  of  the  supplementary  teaching  neces- 
sary to  make  it  assimilable:  and  such  hints  should 
be  adapted  not  only  to  professed  teachers,  but  to 
parents  and  all  who  have  to  do  directly  or  indi- 
rectly with  the  education  of  children.  It  is  my 
hope  that  the  following  clauses  and  explanations 


INTRODUCTION  7 

may  be  of  some  use  also  to  the  many  who  expe- 
rience some  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  old  land- 
marks amid  the  rising  flood  of  criticism,  and  who 
at  one  time  or  another  have  felt  shaken  in  their 
religious  faith.  Some  of  them  are  sure  to  have 
attained  emancipation  and  conviction  for  them- 
selves, but  in  so  far  as  their  own  insight  has  led 
them  in  the  general  direction  indicated  by  what 
follows,  these  will  not  be  the  last  to  welcome  an 
explicit  statement,  even  though  in  several  places 
they  may  wish  to  modify  and  amend  it.  They 
will  recognize  that  there  is  an  advantage,  for  some 
purposes,  in  throwing  old  and  over-familiar  for- 
mulae into  new  modes  of  expression;  and  that  a 
variety  in  mode  of  formulation  does  not  necessarily 
indicate  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  loftiest  truths 
yet  vouchsafed  to  humanity. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks  I  now  submit  a 
catechism,  whereof  the  clauses  are  intended  to  be 
consistent  with  the  teachings  of  Science  in  its 
widest  sense,  as  well  as  with  those  of  Literature 
and  Philosophy,  and  to  lead  up  to  the  substance 
or  substratum  of  a  religious  creed. 


I 

THE   ASCENT  OF   MAN 

Q.   What  are  you  ? 

A.  I  am  a  being  alive  and  conscious  upon  this 
earth;  a  descendant  of  ancestors  who  rose  by 
gradual  processes  from  lower  forms  of  animal  life, 
and  with  struggle  and  suffering  became  man. 


ANCESTRY  9 

CLAUSE  I 

This  answer  does  not  pretend  to  exhaust  the 
nature  of  man;  another  aspect  is  dealt  with  in 
Clause  XII.  It  is  usual  to  impart  the  latter  mode 
of  statement  first;  but  premature  dwelling  on  the 
more  mystical  aspect  of  human  nature,  with  igno- 
rance or  neglect  of  the  biological  facts  actually 
ascertained  concerning  it,  only  gives  rise  to  troubled 
thought  in  the  future  when  the  material  facts  be- 
come known — often  in  crude  or  garbled  form — and 
leads  to  scepticism. 

The  clause  as  it  stands  is  a  large  and  compre- 
hensive statement,  that  will  need  much  time  for 
its  elucidation  and  adequate  comprehension.  Its 
separate  terms  may  be  considered  thus: — 

EARTH. — Children  can  gradually  be  assisted  to 
realize  the  earth  as  an  enormous  globe  of  matter, 
with  vast  continents  and  oceans  on  its  surface  and 
with  a  clinging  atmosphere,  the  whole  moving  very 
rapidly  (nineteen  miles  each  second)  through  space, 
and  constituting  one  of  a  number  of  other  planets 
all  circulating  round  the  sun.  They  may  also  be 
led  to  realize  that  from  the  distance  of  a  million 
miles  it  would  appear  as  an  object  in  the  sky  rather 
like  the  moon;  that  from  a  greater  distance  it 
would  look  like  any  of  the  other  planets;  while 
from  a  vastly  greater  distance  neither  it  nor  any 
other  planet  is  large  or  luminous  enough  to  be 


io  ASCENT    OF    MAN 

visible — nothing  but  the  sun  would  then  be  seen, 
looking  like  a  star.  It  is  occasionally  helpful  to 
realize  that  the  earth,  with  all  its  imperfections, 
is  one  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

BEING. — The  mystery  of  existence  may  be  lightly 
touched  upon.  The  fact  that  anything  whatever- 
even  a  stone — exists,  raises  unanswerable  questions 
of  whence  and  why.  It  is  instructive  to  think  of 
some  rocks  as  agglomerations  of  sand,  and  of  sand 
as  water-worn  fragments  of  previous  rock;  be- 
cause, even  here,  there  arises  a  sense  of  infinitude. 

ALIVE. — The  nature  of  life  and,  consequently, 
of  death  is  unknown,  but  life  is  associated  with 
rapid  chemical  changes  in  complex  molecules,  and 
is  characterized  by  the  powers  or  faculties  of  as- 
similation, growth,  and  reproduction.  It  is  a  prop- 
erty we  share  with  all  animals  and  also  with  plants. 
Children  should  not  be  told  this  in  bald  fashion, 
but  by  judicious  questioning  should  be  led  to  per- 
ceive the  essence  of  it  for  themselves.  Soon  after 
they  realize  what  is  meant  by  life,  some  of  them 
will  perceive  that  it  has  an  enormous  range  of 
application,  and  will  think  of  flowers  as  possessing 
k  also:  being  subject  like  all  living  things  to 
disease  and  death. 

What  plants  do  not  possess  is  the  specifically 
animal  power  of  purposed  locomotion,  of  hunting 
for  food  and  comfort,  with  its  associated  protective 
penalty  of  pain. 


ANCESTRY  n 

CONSCIOUS. — Here  we  come  to  something  spe- 
cially distinctive  of  higher  animal  life.  Probably 
it  makes  its  incipient  appearance  low  down  in  the 
scale,  in  vague  feelings  of  pain  or  discomfort,  and 
of  pleasure;  though  it  is  not  likely  that  worms  are 
as  conscious  as  they  appear  to  us  to  be.  In  its 
higher  grades  consciousness  means  awareness  of 
the  world  and  of  ourselves,  a  discrimination  be- 
tween the  self  and  the  external  world — "self-con- 
sciousness" in  its  proper  signification:  an  immense 
subject  that  can  only  be  hinted  at  to  children. 
They  can,  however,  be  taught  to  have  some  appre- 
ciation of  the  senses,  or  channels,  whereby  our 
experience  of  external  nature  is  gained;  and  to 
perceive  that  the  way  in  which  we  apprehend  the 
universe  is  closely  conditioned  by  the  particular 
sense-organs  which  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
have  been  evolved  by  all  the  higher  kinds  of  animal 
life, — organs  which  we  men  are  now  beginning  to 
put  to  the  unfamiliar  and  novel  use  of  scientific 
investigation  and  cosmic  interpretation.  What 
wonder  if  we  make  mistakes,  and  are  narrow  and 
limited  in  our  outlook! 

Digression  on  the  Senses 

Our  fundamental  interpretative  sense  is  that  of 
touch — the  muscular  sense  generally.  Through  it 
we  become  aware  of  space,  of  time,  and  of  matter. 


12  ASCENT    OF    MAN 

The  experience  of  space  arises  from  free  motion, 
especially  locomotion;  speed  is  a  direct  sensation; 
and  time  is  the  other  factor  of  speed.  Time  is 
measured  by  any  uniformly  moving  body — that  is, 
by  space  and  speed  together.  Muscular  action  im- 
peded, the  sense  of  force  or  resistance,  is  another 
primary  sensation;  and  by  inference  from  this 
arises  our  notion  of  "matter,"  which  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  a  permanent  possibility  of  sensation. 
Hardness  and  softness,  roughness  and  smoothness, 
are  all  inferences  from  varieties  of  touch.  Another 
sense  allied  to  touch  is  that  of  temperature,  whereby 
we  obtain  primitive  ideas  concerning  heat.  Then 
there  are  the  chemical  senses  of  taste  and  smell; 
and  lastly,  the  two  senses  which  enable  us  to  draw 
inferences  respecting  things  at  a  distance.  These 
two  attract  special  attention;  for  the  information 
which  they  convey,  though  less  fundamental  than 
that  given  by  the  muscular  sense,  is  of  the  highest 
interest  and  enjoyment. 

The  ear  is  an  instrument  for  the  appreciation 
of  aerial  vibrations,  or  ripples  in  the  air.  They 
may  give  us  a  sense  of  harmony;  and  in  any  case 
they  enable  us  to  infer  something  concerning  the  vi- 
brating source  which  generated  them,  so  that  we  can 
utilize  them,  by  a  prearranged  code,  for  purposes 
of  intelligent  communication  with  each  other — a 
process  of  the  utmost  importance,  to  which  we  have 
grown  so  accustomed  that  its  wonder  is  masked. 


ANCESTRY  13 

The  eye  is  an  instrument  for  appreciating  ripples 
in  the  ether.  These  are  generated  by  violently 
revolving  electric  charges  associated  with  each  atom 
of  matter,  and  are  delayed,  stopped,  and  reflected 
in  various  ways,  by  other  matter  which  they  en- 
counter in  their  swift  passage  through  the  ethereal 
medium. 

From  long  practice  and  inherited  instinct  we  are 
able,  from  the  small  fraction  of  these  ripples  which 
enter  our  eyes,  to  make  inferences  regarding  the 
obstructive  objects  from  which  they  have  been 
shimmered  and  scattered.  It  is  like  inferring  the 
ships  and  boats  and  obstacles  in  a  harbor  from  the 
pattern  of  the  reflected  ripples  which  cross  each 
other  on  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  precision  and  clearness  with  which  we  can 
thus  gain  knowledge  concerning  things  beyond  our 
reach,  and  the  extraordinary  amount  of  informa- 
tion that  can  be  thus  conveyed,  are  nothing  short 
of  miraculous:  though,  again,  we  are  liable  to 
treat  sight  as  an  every-day  and  commonplace  fac- 
ulty. We  are  not,  however,  directly  conscious  of 
the  ripples,  though  they  are  the  whole  exciting 
cause  of  the  sensation;  our  real  consciousness  and 
perception  are  of  the  objects  which  have  invested 
the  ripples  with  their  peculiarities,  have  imprinted 
upon  them  certain  characteristics,  and  made  them 
what  they  are.  The  eye  is  able  to  analyze  all  this, 
as  the  ear  analyzes  the  tones  of  an  orchestra. 


14  ASCENT    OF    MAN 

ANCESTORS. — In  the  first  instance  human  ances- 
tors may  be  considered,  and  a  family  tree  drawn 
for  any  one  child;  from  which  he  will  learn  how 
large  a  number  of  persons  combine  to  form  his 
ancestry.  The  tree  can  also  represent  the  converg- 
ing effect  of  inter-marriages,  so  that  ultimate  de- 
scent from  a  common  ancestor  is  not  an  impossi- 
bility, if  the  facts  of  biology  and  ethnology  point  in 
that  direction — as  it  appears  they  do.  The  proba- 
ble though  remote  relationship  existing  between  all 
the  branches  of  the  human  family  may  be  suggested 
by  an  inverted  tree  descending  from  some  remotest 
ancestor:  for  whom  Noah  is  as  good  a  name  as  any 
other. 

ROSE. — The  doctrine  of  the  ascent  of  man  may 
be  found  in  some  cases  to  conflict  with  early  re- 
ligious teaching.  If  so,  offence  and  iconoclasm 
should  be  carefully  avoided;  and  if  the  teacher 
feels  that  he  can  conscientiously  draw  a  distinction, 
between  the  persistent  vital  or  spiritual  essence  of 
man,  and  the  temporary  material  vehicle  which  dis- 
plays his  individual  existence  amid  terrestrial  sur- 
roundings, he  may  with  advantage  do  so.  The 
second  or  higher  aspect  of  the  origin  of  man  is  dealt 
with  in  Clause  XII.  The  history  and  origin  of  the 
spiritual  part  of  man  is  unknown,  and  can  only  be 
rightly  spoken  of  in  terms  of  mysticism  and  poetry: 
the  history  of  the  bodily  and  much  of  the  mental 
part  is  studied  in  the  biological  facts  of  evolution. 


ANCESTRY  15 

The  doctrine  of  the  ascent  of  man,  properly 
regarded,  is  a  doctrine  of  much  hope  and  comfort. 
Truly  it  is  an  unusual  item  in  a  child's  creed;  but 
it  is,  I  think,  a  helpful  item :  it  explains  much  that 
would  otherwise  be  dark,  and  it  instils  hope  for  the 
future.  For  in  the  light  of  an  evolution  doctrine 
we  can  readily  admit — (i)  that  low  and  savage 
tendencies  are  naturally  to  be  expected  at  certain 
stages,  for  an  evanescent  moment;  and  (2)  that 
having  progressed  thus  far,  we  may  anticipate  fur- 
ther— perhaps  unlimited — advance  for  mankind. 

The  fact  that  each  individual  organism  hastily 
runs  through,  or  reduplicates,  a  main  part  of  the 
series  of  stages  in  the  life-history  of  its  race,  is  a 
fact  of  special  interest  and  significance;  notably  in 
connection  with  the  trials  and  temptations  of  hu- 
man beings  during  their  effort  to  cleanse  away  the 
traces  of  animal  nature.  The  severity  of  the  con- 
test is  already  lessening,  and  both  the  individual 
and  the  race  may  look  forward  to  a  time  when  the 
struggles  and  failures  are  nearly  over,  when  the 
unruliness  of  passion  is  curbed,  when  at  length  we 

".  .  .  hear  no  yelp  of  the  beast,  and  the  man  is  quiet  at 

last 

As  he  stands  on  the  heights  of  his  life  with  a  glimpse 
of  a  height  that  is  higher." 

GRADUAL  PROCESSES. — The  slowness  and  pre- 
cariousness  of  evolution  may  be  indicated;  and  the 


16  ASCENT    OF    MAN 

possibility  of  descent  or  degeneration,  as  well  as  of 
ascent  and  development,  must  be  insisted  on.  A 
genealogical  tree  can  be  drawn  laterally,  to  illus- 
trate the  origin  of  any  set  of  animals — both  those 
risen  and  those  fallen  in  the  scale — from  some  pos- 
sibly hypothetical  common  ancestor.  The  dog  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  wolf  or  jackal  on  the  other, 
may  serve  as  easy  examples  of  ascent  and  descent 
respectively,  and  of  relationship  between  higher  and 
lower  species,  or  even  genera,  without  direct  or  obvi- 
ous connection.  The  horse  and  the  bear  may  serve 
as  examples  of  distant  relationship;  birds  and  rep- 
tiles as  another;  and  we  may  point  out  that  at  each 
stage  of  inheritance  some  of  the  progeny  may  ascend 
a  little  in  the  scale,  and  some  descend  a  little. 

Presently  the  sponge  of  time  may  wipe  out  the 
common  ancestry  at  the  root  of  the  lateral  tree,  and 
nothing  be  left  but  some  of  its  ascending  and  some 
of  its  descending  branches, — all  suited  to  their  en- 
vironment and  so  continuing  to  live  and  flourish, 
each  in  its  own  way;  but  so  apparently  different, 
that  relationship  between  them  is  a  matter  of  infer- 
ence, and  is  sometimes  difficult  to  believe  in.  The 
example  of  the  caterpillar  and  butterfly,  however, 
of  the  tadpole  and  the  frog,  etc.,  can  be  used  to 
remove  incredulity  at  extraordinary  and  instructive 
transmutations — transmutations  which  in  the  indi- 
vidual represent  rapidly  some  analogous  move- 
ments of  racial  development  in  the  history  of  the 


ANCESTRY  17 

distant  past.  The  degradation  of  certain  free- 
swimming  animals,  such  as  ascidians,  which  in 
old  age  become  rooted  or  sessile  like  plants,  can 
be  pointed  to  as  typical,  and,  indeed,  a  true  rep- 
resentation of  what  has  gone  on  in  a  race  also, 
during  long  periods  of  time.  The  rapid  pas- 
sage of  the  embryo  through  its  ancestral  chain 
of  development  should  be  known,  at  any  rate 
to  the  teacher;  and  in  general  the  greater  the 
teacher's  acquaintance  with  natural  history,  the 
more  living  and  interesting  will  be  the  series  of 
lessons  that  can  occasionally  be  given  on  this  part 
of  the  clause. 

The  popular  misconception  concerning  the  bio- 
logical origin  of  man,  that  he  is  descended  from 
monkeys  like  those  of  the  present  day,  is  a  trivial 
garbling  of  the  truth.  The  elevated  and  the  de- 
graded branches  of  a  family  can  both  trace  their 
descent  from  a  parent  stock;  and  though  the  dis- 
tant common  ancestor  may  now  be  lost  in  obscu- 
rity, there  is  certainly  in  this  sense  a  blood  relation- 
ship between  the  quadrumana  and  the  bimana:  a 
relationship  which  is  recognized  and  is  practically 
useful  in  the  investigations  of  experimental  pa- 
thology. 

LOWER  FORMS  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE. — The  existence 
of  single  cells  and  other  low  microscopic  forms  (like 
amoebae),  and  the  analysis  or  dissection  of  a  more 
complex  structure  (say  rhubarb)  into  the  cells  of 


i8  ASCENT    OF    MAN 

which  it  is  in  a  sense  composed,  together  with 
some  indication  of  the  vital  processes  occurring  in 
similar  but  isolated  cells  (such  as  yeast  or  proto- 
coccus)  which  lead  us  to  consider  them  as  possess- 
ing life — of  a  form  so  fundamental  that  there  is  in 
some  cases  no  clear  discrimination  between  animal 
and  vegetable — may  be  spoken  of  and  exhibited  in 
the  microscope. 

From  a  not  very  different-looking  minute  ger- 
minal vesicle,  or  nucleus  of  a  cell,  the  chick  is 
developed. 

The  lower  forms  of  animal  life,  spoken  of  in  the 
clause  as  ancestral,  may  be  understood  to  go  back 
to  forms  even  as  low  as  these, — indeed,  to  the  low- 
est and  minutest  forms  which  in  dim  and  distant 
ages  can  have  possessed  any  of  the  incipient  char- 
acteristics of  life  a  tall :  down,  perhaps,  to  some  un- 
known process  whereby  the  earthy  particles  began 
to  coalesce  under  a  vivifying  influence.  And  as 
the  race  springs  from  lowly  forms  of  cell  life,  so 
does  the  individual, — the  body  of  each  individual 
was  once  no  more  than  a  microscopic  cell-nucleus 
or  germinal  vesicle.  Therein  was  the  germ  of 
life:  and  the  complex  aggregate  of  cells  we  now 
possess  has  all  been  put  together  by  the  directive 
power  latent  in,  or  initially  manifested  by,  that 
germ.  So  it  is  also  with  a  seed — an  apple  pip,  an 
acorn,  or  a  grain  of  mustard  seed. 

But  there  are  many  forms  of  animal  life  not  in 


ANCESTRY  19 

the  direct  line  of  our  ancestry — side  branches,  as  it 
were,  of  the  great  terrestrial  family.  At  present 
the  earth  is  dominated  by  man,  but  at  one  time  it 
was  mastered  by  gigantic  reptiles,  larger  than  any 
land  creature  of  to-day,  the  remains  of  which  are 
occasionally  found  fossilized  into  stone  and  em- 
bedded in  the  rocks;  fit  to  be  collected  and  pre- 
served in  museums. 

For  millions  of  years  the  earth  was  inhabited  by 
creatures  no  higher  than  these;  the  progress  up- 
ward has  been  slow  and  patient:  time  is  infinitely 
long,  and  the  great  history  of  the  world  is  still 
working  itself  out. 

Still  do  lower  forms  exist  side  by  side  with 
higher;  and  many  of  them  are  suited  to  their  sur- 
roundings, and  in  their  place  are  beautiful  and  sane 
and  perfect  of  their  kind.  But  a  few  of  the  lower 
forms  are  lower  because  they  have  failed  to  reach 
the  standard  of  their  race,  they  are  very  far  from 
any  kind  of  perfection,  they  are  at  war  with  their 
environment;  and  for  these,  the  only  alternatives 
are  extinction  or  improvement.  In  such  a  spe- 
cies as  man  the  variety  or  range  of  achievement 
and  of  elevation  is  enormous.  Among  men  and 
their  works  we  find,  on  the  one  hand,  cathedrals 
and  oratorios  and  poems,  and  faith  and  charity 
and  hope;  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  slums  and 
ugliness  and  prisons,  and  spite  and  cruelty  and 
greed. 


20  ASCENT    OF    MAN 

The  problem,  the  main  human  problem,  is  how 
to  deal  with  the  earth  now — now  that  we  have  at 
length  attained  to  conscious  control — so  as  to  cease 
perpetuating  these  lower  forms,  and  to  encourage 
the  production  of  the  higher;  by  giving  to  all  chil- 
dren born  on  the  planet  a  fair  chance  of  becoming, 
each  in  its  own  way,  a  noble  specimen  of  developed 
humanity. 

STRUGGLE  AND  SUFFERING. — Children  should 
realize  the  bleak  and  unprotected  state  through 
which  their  remote  ancestors  must  have  begun  a 
human  existence,  the  great  dangers  which  they  had 
to  overcome,  the  contests  with  beasts  and  with  the 
severities  of  climate,  the  hardships  and  perils  and 
straits  through  which  they  passed;  and  should  be 
grateful  to  these  unknown  pioneers  of  the  human 
race,  to  whose  struggles  and  suffering  and  discov- 
eries and  energies  our  present  favored  mode  of 
existence  on  the  planet  is  due. 

The  more  people  realize  the  effort  that  has  pre- 
ceded them  and  made  them  possible,  the  more  are 
they  likely  to  endeavor  to  be  worthy  of  it:  the  more 
pitiful  also  will  they  feel  when  they  see  individuals 
failing  in  the  struggle  upward  and  falling  back 
towards  a  brute  condition;  and  the  more  hopeful 
they  will  ultimately  become  for  the  brilliant  future 
of  a  race  which  from  such  lowly  and  unpromising 
beginnings  has  produced  the  material  vehicle  neces- 
sary for  those  great  men  who  flourished  in  the  re- 


ANCESTRY  21 

cent  epoch  which  we  speak  of  as  antiquity;  and  has 
been  so  guided,  since  then,  as  to  develop  the  mag- 
nificence of  a  Newton  and  a  Shakespeare  even  on 
this  island  in  the  northern  seas. 


II 

THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  CONSCIENCE 

Q.  2.  What,  then,  may  be  meant  by  the  Fall  of 
man? 

A.  At  a  certain  stage  of  development  man  be- 
came conscious  of  a  difference  between  right  and 
wrong,  so  that  thereafter,  when  his  actions  fell 
below  a  normal  standard  of  conduct,  he  felt 
ashamed  and  sinful.  He  thus  lost  his  animal 
innocency,  and  entered  on  a  long  period  of  human 
effort  and  failure;  nevertheless,  the  consciousness 
of  degradation  marked  a  rise  in  the  scale  of  exist- 
ence. 


FALL    OF    MAN  23 

CLAUSE   II 

This  clause  has  been  inserted  because  of  the  his- 
toric, though  often  mistaken,  notions  accreted 
round  a  legend  of  Fall  and  of  a  Paradise  lost;  and 
it  is  of  interest  to  detect  the  germ  of  truth  which 
these  ancient  ideas  contain.  It  may  be  regarded 
as  really  an  appendage  of,  or  introductory  to,  the 
next  clause. 

The  sense  of  guilt  and  shame  is  to  some  extent 
displayed  by  a  dog;  but  it  appears  to  be  due  to 
domestication,  and  to  be  a  secondary  result  of 
human  influence.  In  any  case,  it  is  certainly  only 
the  higher  animals  that  thus  exhibit  the  germ  of 
conscience,  and  the  sense  of  shame  and  remorse:  a 
sense  which  is  most  real  and  genuine  when  it  is 
independent  of  externally  inflicted  and  of  expected 
punishment.  Wild  animals  appear  to  have  no  such 
feeling,  they  glory  in  what  we  may  picturesquely 
speak  of  as  their  "misdeeds,"  and  in  running  the 
gauntlet  of  danger  to  achieve  them;  and  though 
often  cruel,  they  are  free  from  sin.  Some  savages 
— our  own  Norse  forefathers  among  others — must 
on  their  freebooting  expeditions  have  been  in  sim- 
ilar case.  So  were  some  of  the  Homeric  heroes. 
It  would  be  only  the  highest  and  most  thoughtful 
among  them  that  could  rise  to  the  sense  of  guilt  and 
degradation.  Only  those  who  have  risen  are  liable 
to  fall.  The  summit  of  manhood  is  attained  when 


24  FALL    OF    MAN 

evil  is  consciously  overcome.  The  penod  before  it 
was  recognized  as  such  has  been  called  the  golden 
age;  but  the  condition  of  unconsciousness  of  evil, 
though  joyous,  is  manifestly  inferior  to  the  state 
ultimately  attainable,  when  paradise  is  regained 
through  struggle  and  victory. 

Mere  innocency,  the  freedom  from  sin  by  reason 
only  of  lack  of  perception,  is  not  the  highest  state; 
it  has  been  thought  ideal  from  the  point  of  view  of 
inspiration  and  poetry,  but  it  is  a  condition  in 
which  advance  is  necessarily  limited.  Sooner  or 
later  fuller  knowledge  and  consciousness  must  ar- 
rive; and  then  ensues  a  long  period  of  discipline 
and  distress,  until  first  a  Leader  and  ulti- 
mately the  race  find  their  way  out,  through 
temptation  and  difficulty,  once  more  to  freedom 
and  joy. 

A  perception  that  the  possibility  of  backsliding 
is  a  necessary  ingredient  in  the  making  of  man, 
and  the  consequent  discernment  of  a  soul  of  good- 
ness in  things  evil,  constitute  a  large  part  of  the 
teaching  of  Browning: 

"Then  welcome  each  rebuff 

That  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough, 
Each  sting  that  bids  nor  sit  nor  stand,  but  go! 
Be  our  joys  three  parts  pain! 
Strive  to  hold  cheap  the  strain; 

Learn,  nor  account  the  pang:  dare,  never  grudge  the 
throe." 


DEVELOPMENT  25 

And  again — • 

"We  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 
Sleep  to  wake — " 

The  intervening  period  between  fall  and  victory, 
between  loss  of  innocency  and  gain  of  righteous- 
ness, is  the  period  with  which  all  human  history  is 
concerned:  and  there  is  often  a  corresponding 
period  in  the  life-history  of  every  fully  developed 
individual,  during  which  he  gropes  his  way  through 
the  darkness  and  longs  for  light. 

Immense  is  the  area  still  to  be  traversed  and 
illumined:  only  faint  gleams  penetrate  the  dusk. 
A  Light  has  indeed  shone  through  the  darkness, 
but  the  darkness  comprehended  it  not.  The  race 
itself  is  still  enveloped  in  mist,  and  only  here  and 
there  a  glint  of  reflection  heralds  the  brightness  of 
a  coming  dawn.  Yet  a  time  will  come  when  we 
shall  cast  away  the  works  of  darkness  and  put  upon 
us  the  armor  of  light,  and  stand  forth  in  the  glory 
of  completed  manhood: 

"Nor  shall  I  deem  his  object  served,  his  end 
Attained,  his  genuine  strength  put  fairly  forth, 
While  only  here  and  there  a  star  dispels 
The  darkness,  here  and  there  a  towering  mind 
O'erlooks  its  prostrate  fellows.    When  the  host 
Is  out  at  once,  to  the  despair  of  night, 
When  all  mankind  alike  is  perfected, 
Equal  in  full-bloom  powers — then,  not  till  then, 
I  say,  begins  man's  general  infancy." 


Ill 

CHARACTER  AND  WILL 

Q.  3.  What  is  the  distinctive  characteristic  of 
manhood  ? 

A.  The  distinctive  character  of  man  is  that  he 
has  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  his  acts,  having 
acquired  the  power  of  choosing  between  good  and 
evil,  with  freedom  to  obey  one  motive  rather  than 
another.  Creatures  far  below  the  human  level  are 
irresponsible;  they  feel  no  shame  and  suffer  no 
remorse;  they  are  said  to  have  no  conscience. 


CHARACTER   OF   MANHOOD        27 
CLAUSE   III 

In  putting  this  question,  children  may  be 
asked  to  suggest  characteristics  which  distin- 
guish man  from  animals.  If  gradually  they  hit 
upon  clothes  and  fire  and  speech  they  will  do 
well. 

Clothes  may  be  defined  as  artificial  covering 
removable  at  will;  "artificial"  meaning  made  by 
an  artificer,  or  manufactured,  as  opposed  to  natu- 
ral growth,  like  fur.  But  the  changes  of  covering 
among  animals  should  not  be  overlooked:  moult- 
ing for  instance,  renewal  of  skin  necessitated  by 
growth,  protective  change  of  color  at  summer  and 
winter,  and  so  on. 

The  discovery  of  Fire  is  a  thing  to  be  empha- 
sized, because  familiarity  with  lucifer  matches  is 
liable  to  engender  contempt  for  this  great  pre- 
historic discovery.  PeopJe  should  realize  that  at 
one  time  the  production  of  flame  de  novo  was  ex- 
tremely difficult:  the  ordinary  method  of  lighting 
fires  being  to  keep  some  one  fire  always  alight,  so 
that  brands  could  be  ignited  at  it  and  thus  it  be 
spread.  The  fact  that  lighting  other  fires  does  not 
diminish  or  weaken  the  original  stock,  is  a  striking 
fact,  and  is  an  analogy  with  life  which  may  be 
typified  by  oaks  and  acorns — any  number  of  trees 
arising  from  a  parent  stock,  and  spreading  for 
innumerable  generations.  The  ancient  ceremony 


28  CHARACTER    AND    WILL 

of  keeping  flames  alight  on  sacred  altars  was 
doubtless  due  to  the  difficulty  of  re-ignition  when 
every  fire  in  a  village  had  accidentally  become  ex- 
tinguished. That  the  ancients  valued  fire  highly, 
and  felt  strongly  the  difficulty  of  generating  it,  is 
shown  by  the  legend  that  the  first  fire  must  have 
been  stolen  from  heaven;  and  the  priests  taught, 
as  usual  in  barbarous  times,  that  the  gods  were 
jealous  and  angry  at  man's  discoveries  and  the 
progress  of  science. 

Speech  and  language  is  a  most  vital  characteristic 
of  manhood,  and  is  largely  responsible  for  the 
chasm  between  him  and  other  animals.  The  gest- 
ures and  noises  of  animals  must  not  be  overlooked, 
however,  and  they  often  seem  to  have  mysterious 
modes  of  communication  of  some  kind.  But  they 
have  nothing  akin  to  writing;  and  this  portentous 
discovery  enables  not  merely  communication  be- 
tween contemporary  living  men,  but  an  accumula- 
tion of  information  and  experience  throughout  the 
centuries;  so  that  a  man  is  no  longer  dependent 
solely  on  his  own  individual  experience,  but  is 
able  to  draw  upon  the  records  and  wisdom 
of  the  past.  Owing  to  this  power  of  recording 
and  handing  on  information,  a  discovery  once 
made  becomes  the  possession  of  the  human  race 
henceforth  forever  —  unless  it  relapses  into  bar- 
barism. 


WILL  29 

WILL 

None  of  these  characteristics,  however,  is  empha- 
sized in  the  clause,  because  they  lead  too  far  afield 
if  pursued.  For  our  present  purpose  we  regard  the 
sense  of  "conscience,"  spoken  of  in  the  previous 
answer,  as  the  most  important  and  highest  char- 
acteristic of  all, — the  sense  of  responsibiiity,  the 
power  of  self-determination,  the  building  up  of 
character,  so  that  ultimately  it  becomes  impossible 
to  be  actuated  by  unworthy  motives;  our  actions 
are  now  controlled  not  by  external  impulses  only, 
but  largely  by  our  own  characters  and  wills.  The 
man  who  is  the  creature  of  impulse,  or  the  slave  of 
his  passions,  cannot  be  said  to  be  his  own  master, 
or  to  be  really  free;  he  drifts  hither  and  thither  ac- 
cording to  the  caprice  or  the  temptation  of  the 
moment,  he  is  untrustworthy  and  without  solidity 
or  dignity  of  character.  The  free  man  is  he  who 
can  control  himself,  does  not  obey  every  idea  as  it 
occurs  to  him,  but  weighs  and  determines  for  him- 
self, and  is  not  at  the  mercy  of  external  influences. 
This  is  the  real  meaning  of  choice  and  free  will. 
It  does  not  mean  that  actions  are  capricious  and 
undetermined;  but  that  they  are  determined  by 
nothing  less  than  the  totality  of  things.  They  are 
not  determined  by  the  external  world  alone,  so  that 
they  can  be  calculated  and  predicted  from  outside : 
they  are  determined  by  self  and  external  world  to- 


30  RESPONSIBILITY 

gether.  A  free  man  is  the  master  of  Jiis  mo- 
tives, and  selects  that  motive  which  he  wills  to 
obey. 

If  he  chooses  wrongly,  he  suffers;  he  is  liable  also 
to  make  others  suffer,  and  he  feels  remorse.  In  a 
high  grade  of  existence  no  other  punishment  is 
necessary.  Artificial  punishment  has  for  its  object 
the  production  of  artificial  remorse,  in  creatures  too 
low  as  yet  for  the  genuine  feeling.  Artificial  pun- 
ishment can  be  easily  exaggerated  and  misapplied, 
and  should  be  employed  with  extreme  caution.  It 
is  always  ambitious  and  often  dangerous,  though 
sometimes  justifiable  and  necessary,  to  attempt  to 
take  the  place  of  Providence.  Even  between  par- 
ents and  children,  enforcement  of  another's  will 
may  be  overdone,  till  the  power  of  self-control  and 
the  instinct  of  duty  are  impaired. 

The  sense  of  responsibility  inevitably  grows  with 
power  and  knowledge,  and  is  proportional  thereto. 
By  means  of  drugs  a  grown  man  may  enfeeble  his 
will  till  he  becomes  in  some  sense  irresponsible  for 
his  actions;  but  he  is  not  irresponsible  for  his  wil- 
ful destruction  of  a  human  faculty;  and  in  so  far 
as  he  is  dangerous  to  others  he  must  be  treated 
accordingly. 

The  struggle  in  man's  nature  between  the  better 
and  the  worse  elements, — sometimes  spoken  of  as 
a  struggle  between  dual  personalities,  and  other- 
wise depicted  as  a  conflict  between  the  flesh  and 


CHARACTER  31 

the  spirit, — is  a  natural  consequence  of  our  double 
ancestry  (spoken  of  in  Clause  XII.)  our  ascent  from 
animal  fellow-creatures,  and  our  relationship  with  a 
higher  order  of  being.  No  man  in  his  sober  senses 
really  wills  to  do  evil :  he  does  it  with  some  motive 
which  he  tries  to  think  justifies  it;  or  else  he  does 
it  against  his  real  will  because  mastered  by  some- 
thing lower.  So  Plato  teaches  in  the  Gorgias;  and 
St.  Paul  says  the  same  thing: 

"The  good  which  I  would  I  do  not;  but  the  evil 
which  I  would  not,  that  I  do." 

The  conflict  is  often  a  period  of  torment  and 
misery.  "O,  wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?" 

Whenever  the  better  nature  prevails  in  the  strug- 
gle there  is  a  mystic  sense  of  strength  and  comfort, 
universally  testified  to  by  humanity,  even  though 
the  victory  results  in  temporal  loss  or  persecution; 
"in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors." 
And  this  fact  corresponds  with  part  of  the  answer 
to  Question  6  below. 

We  can  recognize  that  our  evil  impulses  are  the 
natural  remnant  of  bestial  ancestry,  and  need  not 
be  due  to  diabolical  promptings.  An  animal, 
though  perhaps  innocent  from  lack  of  knowledge, 
is  bound  and  enslaved  by  its  instincts;  for  instance, 
the  apparently  intelligent  and  social  bee  is  driven 
by  racial  instincts  into  a  prescribed  course  of  action; 
a  cat  can  no  more  refrain  from  trying  to  catch  a 


}2  CHARACTER    AND    WILL 

bird  than  a  man  of  high  nature  can  allow  himself  to 
commit  a  crime. 

The  weak  man  often  allows  his  brute  nature  to 
get  the  upper  hand  and  enslave  his  higher  self,  and 
he  hates  himself  afterwards  for  the  degradation  so 
caused;  but  the  strong  and  free  man  takes  control 
and  dominates  his  animal  nature. 

"If  my  body  come  from  brutes,  tho'  somewhat  finer  than 

their  own, 
I  am  heir,  and  this  my  kingdom.     Shall  the  royal  voice 

be  mute  ? 
No,  but  if  the  rebel  subject  seek  to  drag  me  from  the 

throne, 

Hold  the  Sceptre,  Human  Soul,  and  rule  thy  Province 
of  the  brute." 


IV 
DUTY  AND  SERVICE 

Q.  4.   What  is  the  duty  of  man  ? 

A.  To  assist  his  fellows,  to  develop  his  own 
higher  self,  to  strive  towards  good  in  every  way 
open  to  his  powers,  and  generally  to  seek  to  know 
the  laws  of  Nature  and  to  obey  the  will  of  God, 
in  whose  service  alone  can  be  found  that  harmo- 
nious exercise  of  the  faculties  which  is  synonymous 
with  perfect  freedom. 


DUTY  35 

CLAUSE   IV 

The  laws  of  nature  signify  the  ascertained  proc- 
esses and  consistencies  observable  in  all  surround- 
ing things;  they  are  a  special  and  partial,  but 
accurately  ascertainable,  aspect  of  what  is  called 
the  will  of  God.  They  cannot  be  broken  or  really 
disobeyed;  but  we  may  set  ourselves  in  fruitless 
antagonism  to  them, — as  by  building  a  bridge  too 
weak  to  stand,  by  various  kinds  of  wrong  conduct, 
eating  unduly  or  wrong  kind  of  food,  by  careless 
sanitation  and  neglect  of  health.  But  all  such 
ignorance  or  neglect  of  the  laws  of  nature  involves 
disaster.  By  knowing  them,  and  acting  with  them, 
we  show  wisdom;  and  by  steady  persistence  in 
right  action  we  attain  the  highest  development 
possible  to  us  at  present;  we  also  escape  that 
dreary  sense  of  disloyal  hopeless  struggle  against 
circumstances  which  is  inconsistent  with  harmony 
or  freedom.  So  long  as  the  will  of  any.  creature  is 
antagonistic  to  the  rest  of  the  universe,  it  is  not 
fully  developed.  There  must  be  a  harmony  among 
all  the  parts  of  a  whole;  but  in  the  case  of  free 
beings  it  is  not  a  forced  but  a  willing  harmony  that 
is  aimed  at;  and  all  experience  takes  time. 

"Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how, 
Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  Thine." 

The  higher  a  man  can  raise  himself  in  the  scale 


36  SERVICE 

of  existence — by  education,  right  conduct,  and  per- 
sistent effort — the  more  he  may  be  able  to  help  his 
fellows.  To  some  are  given  ten  talents,  to  some 
five,  and  to  another  one;  but  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to 
use  their  talents  to  the  uttermost,  so  that  they  may 
fulfil  the  intention  of  the  higher  Power  which 
brought  us  into  existence  and  intrusted  us  with 
responsible  control.  Events  do  not  happen  with- 
out adequate  cause,  and  in  so  far  as  agents,  stew- 
ards, or  trustees  rest  on  their  oars  or  misuse  their 
opportunities,  improvements  now  possible  will  not 
be  accomplished.  We  must  regard  ourselves  as 
instruments  and  channels  of  the  Divine  action, 
even  in  a  few  things  we  must  be  good  and  faithful 
servants,  and  it  is  our  privilege  to  help  now  in  the 
conscious  evolution  and  development  of  a  higher 
life  on  this  planet. 

The  race  of  man  has  far  to  travel  before  it  can 
be  regarded  as  an  efficient  organ  of  the  Divine 
Purpose.  The  extremes  of  ability  and  character 
and  virtue  are  widely  separated;  and  the  occa- 
sional elevation  of  a  leader,  here  and  there,  serves 
but  to  display  the  darkness  in  which  the  majority 
of  a  race  so  newly  evolved  are  still  imprisoned; 
crawling  feebly  towards  the  light,  in  a  state  of  only 
rudimentary  consciousness;  anxious  about  trivi- 
alities, opposing  and  hindering  instead  of  helping 
one  another,  competing  rather  than  co-operating, 
fighting  and  struggling  and  killing,  in  the  throes  of 


DUTY  37 

racial  birth.  It  is  often  difficult  to  realize  the  pos- 
sible perfectness  of  human  life,  in  the  midst  of  so 
much  difficulty  and  discouragement. 

And  much  of  the  difficulty  is  unnecessary  and 
artificial.  Deficiency  in  the  means  of  subsistence, 
or  in  modest  comfort,  is  not  a  reasonable  condition 
of  human  life.  The  earth  is  ready  to  yield  plenty 
for  all,  and  will  when  properly  treated  and  under- 
stood; but  never  will  it  spoil  its  children  with 
bounties  from  a  neglected  breast.  It  must  be 
coaxed  and  coerced,  and  then  it  will  respond  lavish- 
ly. We  expend  plenty  of  energy  already,  only  we 
misapply  it.  If  only  our  aim  could  be  changed  and 
our  energy  be  concentrated  on  clear  and  conscious 
pressing  forward,  with  a  definite  mark  in  view — 
towards  which  all  could  work  together  and  all  to- 
gether could  attain,  instead  of  one  at  the  expense  of 
others — "then  would  the  earth  put  forth  her  in- 
crease, and  God,  even  our  own  God,  would  give  us 
His  blessing." 

(The  "  duty  "  clauses  in  the  Church  Catechism  are 
well  worth  learning.) 


V 

GOODNESS   AND   BEAUTY  AND   GOD 

Q.  5.   What  is  meant  by  good  and  evil? 

A.  Good  is  that  which  promotes  development, 
and  is  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God.  It  is  akin 
to  health  and  beauty  and  happiness. 

Evil  is  that  which  retards  or  frustrates  develop- 
ment, and  injures  some  part  of  the  universe.  It  is 
akin  to  disease  and  ugliness  and  misery. 


GOODNESS  39 

CLAUSE   V 

"Development"  means  unfolding  of  latent  pos- 
sibilities; as  a  bud  unfolds  into  a  flower,  or  as  a 
chicken  emerges  from  an  egg. 

The  idea  controlling  this  answer  is  that  growth 
and  development  are  in  accordance  with  the  law 
of  the  universe,  and  that  destruction  and  decay  are 
features  which  are  only  good  in  so  far  as  they  may 
be  on  the  way  to  something  better;  as  leaf-mould 
assists  the  growth  of  flowers,  or  as  discords  in  their 
proper  place  conduce  to,  or  prepare  for,  harmony. 
In  the  same  way  conditions  and  practices  which 
once  were  good  become  in  process  of  time  corrupt; 
yet  out  of  them  must  grow  the  better  future. 

"The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to  new, 
And  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways, 
Lest  one  good  custom  should  corrupt  the  world." 

The  law  of  the  Universe,  and  the  will  of  God,  are 
here  regarded  as  in  some  sort  synonymous  terms. 
It  is  impossible  properly  to  define  such  a  term  as 
"God,"  but  it  is  permissible  reverently  to  use  the 
term  for  a  mode  of  regarding  the  Universe  as  in- 
vested with  what  in  human  beings  we  call  person- 
ality, consciousness,  and  other  forms  of  intelligence, 
emotion,  and  will.  These  attributes,  undoubtedly 
possessed  by  a  part,  are  not  to  be  denied  to  the 


40  GOD 

whole;  however  little  we  may  be  able  as  yet  to  form 
a  clear  conception  of  their  larger  meaning, 

It  is  quite  clear  that  the  Universe  was  not  made 
by  man;  it  must  owe  its  existence  to  some  higher 
Power  of  which  man  has  but  an  infinitesimal  knowl- 
edge. Some  primary  conception  of  such  a  Power 
has  been  independently  formed  by  every  fraction  of 
the  human  race,  and  is  what  under  various  symbols 
has  been  called  God. 

It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  God  does  not  pos- 
sess powers  and  faculties  and  attributes  which  we 
ourselves  possess.  But  that  is  preposterous:  for 
though  we  may  be  able  to  form  no  conception  as  to 
the  particular  form  our  powers  would  take,  when 
possessed  by  a  being  even  moderately  higher  in  the 
scale  of  existence  than  ourselves;  and  although 
vastly  more  must  be  attributed  to  the  Reality  de- 
noted by  the  term  "God"  than  we  can  even  begin 
to  conceive  of;  yet  such  a  term,  if  it  is  to  have  any 
meaning  at  all,  must  at  least  include  everything  we 
have  so  far  been  able  to  discover  as  existent  in  the 
Universe.  It  must,  in  fact,  be  the  most  compre- 
hensive term  that  can  be  employed;  though  for 
practical  purposes  it  may  be  permissible  to  discrim- 
inate, and  exclude  from  its  connotation,  portions 
such  as  "self,"  and  "the  world,"  and  sometimes, 
though  with  less  excuse,  even  an  abstraction  like 
"nature";  considering  these  separately  from  the 
more  purely  personal  aspect  to  which  attention  is 


BEAUTY  41 

directed  by  our  ordinary  use  of  the  term  God.  It 
is  convenient  to  differentiate  the  principle  of  evil 
also,  and  to  reserve  it  for  separate  study. 

Sometimes  the  totality  of  existence  is  spoken  of 
as  the  "Absolute,"  and  the  term  God  is  limited  to 
the  conception  of  a  Being  of  infinite  Goodness  and 
Mercy,  the  ultimate  Impersonation  of  Truth  and 
Love  and  Beauty;  a  Being  of  whose  attributes  the 
highest  faculties  and  perceptions  of  man  are  but  a 
dim  shadow  or  reflection. 

In  man,  goodness  is  the  path  towards  higher  de- 
velopment, and  a  radiant  beauty  is  the  crown  and 
perfection  of  life;  so  the  trinity  of  Truth,  Good- 
ness, and  Beauty,  ofte,n  referred  to  in  literature, 
may,  without  undue  stretching,  be  considered  as 
also  equivalent  to  what  is  represented  by  the  words, 
the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life;  they  are  three 
aspects  of  what  after  all  is  one  essential  unity.  That 
which  is  good,  in  the  highest  sense,  cannot  help 
being  both  true  and  beautiful.  Nevertheless,  for 
many  practical  purposes,  these  ideas  must  be  dis- 
criminated; and  the  question  is  occasionally  forced 
upon  our  attention  whether  vitality  or  beauty  can 
possibly  be  enlisted  in  the  service  of  evil;  and  if  so, 
whether  it  is  still  in  itself  good. 

We  have  to  learn  that  most  good  things  can  be 
misapplied,  and  that  though  they  do  not  in  them- 
selves cease  to  be  good,  their  desecration  is  espe- 
cially deadly.  That  the  corruption  of  the  best 


42  GOODNESS 

abets  the  cause  of  the  worst,  is  proverbial;  the 
prostitution  of  high  gifts  to  base  ends  is  the  saddest 
of  spectacles. 

"  Lilies  that  fester  smell  far  worse  than  weeds." 

Oratory,  the  power  of  persuasion,  can  thus  be  de- 
based, and  the  passions  of  the  multitude  may  be 
incited  by  the  Divine  fire  of  eloquence.  Rhetoric 
and  sophistry  have  been  on  this  ground  condemned 
when  they  were  misused  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
art  of  persuasion  apart  from  knowledge  and  virtue; 
but  almost  every  good  gift  —  personal  affection, 
medical  science,  artistic  genius — has  every  now  and 
then  been  abused;  and  the  higher  and  nobler  the 
faculty,  the  more  sorrowful  and  diabolical  must  be 
its  prostitution. 

It  has  been  an  ancient  puzzle  to  consider  whether 
the  principle  of  goodness  is  the  supreme  entity  in 
the  universe — a  principle  to  which  God  as  well  as 
man  is  subject — or  whether  it  represents  only  the 
arbitrary  will  of  the  Creator.  Many  answers  have 
been  given,  but  the  answer  from  the  side  of  science 
is  clear: — 

No  existing  universe  can  tend  on  the  whole  tow- 
ards contraction  and  decay;  because  that  would 
foster  annihilation,  and  so  any  incipient  attempt 
would  not  have  survived;  consequently  an  actually 
existing  and  flowing  universe  must  on  the  whole 


GOODNESS  43 

cherish  development,  expansion,  growth:  and  so 
tend  towards  infinity  rather  than  towards  zero. 
The  problem  is  therefore  only  a  variant  of  the  gen- 
eral problem  of  existence.  Given  existence,  of  a 
non-stagnant  kind,  and  ultimate  development  must 
be  its  law.  Good  and  evil  can  be  defined  in  terms 
of  development  and  decay  respectively.  This  may 
be  regarded  as  part  of  a  revelation  of  the  nature  of 
God. 


VI 
MAN  PART  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

Q.  6.  H aw  Joes  man  know  good  from  evil  ? 

A.  His  own  nature,  when  uncorrupted  by  greed, 
is  sufficiently  in  tune  with  the  universe  to  enable 
him  to  be  well  aware  in  general  of  what  is  a  help 
or  hindrance  to  the  guiding  Spirit,  of  which  he 
himself  is  a  real  and  effective  portion. 


DIVINE    AGENCY    OF    MAN          45 
CLAUSE  VI 

We  are  not  something  separate  from  the  Uni- 
verse, but  a  part  of  it:  a  part  of  it  endowed  with 
some  power  of  control — power  to  guide  ourselves 
and  others  and  assist  in  the  scheme  of  development 
— power  also  to  go  wrong,  to  set  ourselves  contrary 
to  the  tendency  of  things,  to  delay  progress,  and 
break  ourselves  in  conflict  with  overpowering 
forces. 

When  not  thus  warped  or  misled,  we  fit  into  the 
general  scheme,  and,  like  all  other  portions  of  exis- 
tence, can  fulfil  our  function  and  take  our  due  share 
in  the  general  progress.  We  are  a  part  of  the 
Universe,  and  the  Universe  is  a  part  of  God.  Even 
we  also,  therefore,  have  a  Divine  Nature  and  may 
truly  be  called  sons  and  co-workers  with  God.  The 
consciousness  of  this  constitutes  our  highest  privi- 
lege, and  likewise  our  gravest  responsibility.  Per- 
ception of  this  is  dawning  with  increasing  bright- 
ness on  the  human  race  in  the  light  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution.  The  process  of  evolution  has  no  end : 
progress  is  towards  an  advancing  goal.  At  one 
time 

"...  all  tended  to  mankind, 
And,  man  produced,  all  has  its  end  thus  far: 
But  in  completed  man  begins  anew 
A  tendency  to  God." 

We  are  essential  and  active  agents  in  the  terres- 


46         MAN    AND    THE    UNIVERSE 

trial  order  of  things,  analogous  to  the  white  cor- 
puscles in  the  human  body.  The  body  may  be 
regarded  as  a  colony  of  cells,  some  of  which  are 
living  and  moving  on  their  own  account;  in  com- 
plete ignorance  of  the  feelings  and  perceptions  of 
the  larger  whole  of  which  they  are  microscopic 
units,  towards  whose  health  and  comfort  neverthe- 
less they  unconsciously  but  very  really  contribute; 
it  is  in  fact  by  their  activity  that  the  health  of  the 
body  is  maintained  against  adverse  influences.  So 
it  is  with  the  health  of  the  body  politic,  to  which  our 
wise  activity  is  necessary  and  essential;  we  are  to 
be  a  corporate  portion  of  the  whole,  effective  ser- 
vants of  the  guiding  and  controlling  Spirit.  But 
in  our  case  it  is  not  merely  unconscious  service  that 
is  called  for:  we  are  privileged  not  only  to  be  ser- 
vants, but  friends;  not  only  to  work,  but  to  sympa- 
thize; to  give  not  only  dutiful  but  affectionate 
service.  This  is  required  of  the  humblest,  and  no 
more  is  required  of  the  noblest: 

"He  hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good; 
and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do 
justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God  ?" 


VII 

THE  NATURE  OF  EVIL 

Q.  7.  How  comes  it  that  evil  exists  ? 

A.  Evil  is  not  an  absolute  thing,  but  has  refer- 
ence to  a  standard  of  attainment.  Th'e  possibility 
of  evil  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  a  rise  in  the 
scale  of  moral  existence;  just  as  an  organism  whose 
normal  temperature  is  far  above  "absolute  zero" 
is  necessarily  liable  to  damaging  and  deadly  cold. 
But  cold  is  not  in  itself  a  positive  or  created  thing. 


EVIL  49 

CLAUSE  VII 

The  term  "evil "  is  relative:  dirt,  for  instance,  is 
well  known  to  be  only  matter  out  of  place;  weeds 
are  plants  flourishing  where  they  are  not  wanted; 
there  are  no  weeds  in  botany,  there  are  weeds  in 
gardening;  even  disease  is  only  one  organism  grow- 
ing at  the  expense  of  another;  ugliness  is  non-ex- 
istent save  to  creatures  with  a  sense  of  beauty,  and 
is  due  to  unsuitable  grouping.  Analyzed  into  its 
elements,  every  particle  of  matter  must  be  a  miracle 
of  law  and  order,  and,  in  that  sense,  of  beauty. 

Recent  discoveries  in  connection  with  the  in- 
ternal structure  of  an  atom,  whereby  the  constitu- 
ent particles  are  found  to  move  in  intricate  and 
ascertainable  orbits — leading  to  a  new  science  of 
atomic  astronomy — emphasize  this  assertion  to  an 
extent  barely  credible  ten  years  ago. 

Even  what  can  be  called  filth,  that  is  to  say 
material  which  to  the  casual  observer,  or  when 
encountered  at  unsuitable  times,  is  disgusting,  may 
to  an  investigator  or  under  other  circumstances 
be  of  the  highest  interest;  and  may  even  arouse 
a  sense  of  admiration,  by  reason  of  manifest  sub- 
servience to  function. 

Many  social  evils  are  due  to  human  folly  and 
stupidity,  and  will  cease  when  the  race  has  risen 
to  a  standard  already  attained  by  individuals. 

Excessive  hunger  and  starvation  are  manifestly 


50  NATURE    OF    EVIL 

evils  of  a  negative  character:    they  are  merely  a 
deficiency  of  supply:    they  have  no  business  to 
exist   in    a   civilized    and   organized   community 
Famine  and  pestilence  can  be  checked  by  applica- 
tions of  science. 

Pain  is  an  awful  reality,  when  highly  developed 
organisms  are  subjected  to  wounds  and  poison  and 
disease.  Some  kinds  of  pain  have  been  wickedly  in- 
flicted by  human  beings  on  one  another  in  the  past, 
and  other  kinds  may  be  removed  or  mitigated  by 
the  progress  of  discovery  in  the  future.  Physio- 
logically the  nerve  processes  involved  are  well 
worthy  of  study  and  control.  Premature  avoid- 
ance of  pain  would  have  been  dangerous  to  the 
race,  and  not  really  helpful  to  the  individual:  but 
great  advances  in  this  direction  are  now  foreshad- 
owed. Already  surgical  operations  can  be  con- 
ducted painlessly,  and  a  time  is  foreshadowed  when 
by  hypnosis  excessive  and  useless  torture  can  be 
shut  off  from  consciousness,  by  intelligence  and 
will;  somewhat  as  the  random  leakage  of  an 
electric  supply  can  be  checked.  All  this  will  come 
in  due  time: 

"The  best  is  yet  to  be, 

The  last  of  life  for  which  the  first  was  made: 
Our  times  are  in  His  hand 
Who  saith  a  whole  I  planned, 
Youth  shows  but  half:  trust  God,  see  all,  nor  be  afraid." 

The  contrast  between  good  and  evil  can  be  well 


EVIL  51 

illustrated  by  the  contrast  between  heat  and  cold. 
Cold  is  only  the  absence  of  heat,  and  is  made  at 
once  possible  and  necessary  by  the  existence  of 
degrees  of  heat.  The  fact  that  we  regard  excessive 
cold  as  an  evil  is  only  because  our  organization 
demands  a  certain  temperature  for  life;  there  is 
nothing  evil  about  cold  in  itself:  it  is  only  evil  in 
its  relation  to  organisms  sufficiently  high  to  be 
damaged  by  it.  The  real  fact  is  their  normally 
high  temperature,  and  their  delicacy  of  response 
to  stimuli.  These  things  are  good;  and  the  only 
evil  is  a  defect  or  deficiency  of  these  good  things. 

The  power  of  assimilating  food  leaves  the  organ- 
ism open  to  the  pangs  of  hunger,  that  is,  of  insuffi- 
cient nutriment, — manifestly  only  the  absence  of  a 
good. 

Every  rise  involves  the  possibility  of  fall.  Every 
advance  seems  to  entail  a  corresponding  penalty. 

In  a  world  devoid  of  life  there  is  no  death;  in  a 
world  without  conscious  beings  there  is  no  sin. 
In  a  world  without  affection  there  would  be  no 
grief;  and  to  a  larger  vision  much  of  our  grief  may 
be  needless: — 

"My  son,  the  world  is  dark  with  griefs  and  graves, 
So  dark  that  men  cry  out  against  the  Heavens. 
Who  knows  but  that  the  darkness  is  in  man  ?" 

A  mechanical  universe  might  be  perfectly  good. 
Every  atom  of  matter  perfectly  obeys  the  forces 


52  NATUREOFEV1L 

acting  upon  it,  and  there  is  no  error  or  wickedness 
or  fault  or  rebellion  in  lifeless  nature.  Evil  only 
begins  when  existence  takes  a  higher  turn.  There 
is  not  even  destruction  or  death  in  the  inorganic 
world — only  transformation.  The  higher  possi- 
bility called  life  entails  the  correlative  evils  called 
death  and  disease.  The  possibility  of  keen  sensa- 
tion, which  permits  pleasure,  also  involves  capacity 
for  the  corresponding  penalty  called  pain:  but  the 
pain  is  in  ourselves,  and  is  the  result  of  our  sensi- 
tiveness combined  with  imperfection. 

The  still  higher  attribute  of  conscious  striving 
after  holiness,  which  must  be  the  prerogative  of 
free  agents  capable  of  virtue  or  purposed  good,  and 
marks  so  enormous  a  rise  in  the  scale  of  creation, — 
involves  the  possibility  that  beings  so  endowed  may 
fall  from  their  high  level,  and,  by  definitely  apply- 
ing themselves  to  harm  instead  of  good,  may  abuse 
their  high  power  and  suffer  the  penalty  called  sin; 
but  the  evil  in  all  cases  is  a  warped  or  distorted 
good,  and  has  reference  to  the  higher  beings  which 
are  now  in  existence. 


'There  shall  never  be  one  lost  good!  what  was  shall  live 

as  before; 

The  evil  is  null,  is  nought,  is  silence  implying  sound; 
What  was  good  shall  be  good,  with,  for  evil,  so  much 

good  more; 
On  the  earth  the  broken  arcs;   in  the  heaven  a  perfect 

round  " 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    EVIL  53 

Some  further  idea  of  the  necessity  for  evil  can  be 
conveyed  as  follows: — 

Contrast  is  an  inevitable  attribute  of  reality. 
Sickness  is  the  negative  and  opposite  of  health: 
without  sickness  we  should  not  be  aware  what 
health  was.  There  is  no  sickness  in  inorganic 
nature;  yet,  even  there,  contrast  is  the  essence  of 
existence.  Everything  that  is  must  be  surrounded 
by  regions  where  it  is  not.  There  is  no  stupid 
infinity,  or  absence  of  boundaries,  about  existing 
things, — however  infinite  their  totality  may  be, — 
no  absence  of  limitation,  either  of  perfection  or  of 
anything  else.  Existence  involves  limitation.  A 
tree  that  is  here  is  excluded  from  being  everywhere 
else.  Goodness  would  have  no  meaning  if  bad- 
ness were  impossible  or  non-existent. 

"No  ill  no  good!  such  counter-terms,  my  son, 
Are  border-races,  holding,  each  its  own 
By  endless  war." 

We  are  not  machines  or  automata,  but  free  and 
conscious  and  active  agents,  and  so  must  contend 
with  evil  as  well  as  rejoice  in  good.  Conflict  and 
difficulty  are  essential  for  our  training  and  develop- 
ment: even  for  our  existence  at  this  grade.  With 
their  aid  we  have  become  what  we  are;  without 
them  we  should  vegetate  and  degenerate;  whereas 
the  will  of  the  Universe  is  that  we  arise  and  walk. 


VIII 
THE   MEANING  OF  SIN 

Q.  8.   What  is  sin? 

A.  Sin  is  the  deliberate  and  wilful  act  of  a  free 
agent  who  sees  the  better  and  chooses  the  worse, 
and  thereby  acts  injuriously  to  himself  and  others. 
The  root  sin  is  selfishness,  whereby  needless  trouble 
and  pain  are  inflicted  on  others;  when  fully  de- 
veloped it  involves  moral  suicide. 


SIN  55 

CLAUSE  VIII 

The  essence  of  sin  is  error  against  light  and 
knowledge,  and  against  our  own  higher  nature. 
Vice  is  error  against  natural  law.  Crime  is  error 
against  society. — Sin  against  our  own  higher  nature 
may  be  truly  said  to  be  against  God,  because  it  is 
against  that  purpose  or  destiny  which  by  Divine 
arrangement  is  open  to  us,  if  only  we  will  pursue 
and  realize  it. 

Sin  is  a  disease:  the  whole  of  existence  is  so 
bound  together  that  disease  in  one  part  means  pain 
throughout;  the  innocent  may  suffer  with  the 
guilty,  and  suffering  may  extend  to  the  Highest. 
The  healing  influences  of  forgiveness,  felt  by  the 
broken  and  the  contrite  heart,  achieve  spiritual 
reform  though  they  remove  no  penalty.  Every 
eddy  of  conduct,  for  good  or  ill,  must  have  its 
definite  consequence. 

We  have  high  authority  for  the  statement  that 
hard  circumstances  and  disabilities,  not  of  our  own 
making,  are  mercifully  taken  into  account;  while 
privileges  and  advantages  wTeigh  heavily  in  the 
scale  against  us,  if  we  prove  unworthy: 

"If  ye  were  blind  ye  would  have  no  sin  ; 
but  now  ye  say  We  see,  therefore  your  sin  remaineth." 

A  man  or  woman's  nature  may  be  so  weakened 
and  warped  by  miserable  surroundings,  that  its 


56  SELFISHNESS 

strength  is  insufficient  to  cope  with  its  environment. 
Pity,  and  a  wish  to  help,  are  the  feelings  which  such 
a  state  of  things  should  arouse,  together  with  an 
active  determination  to  improve  or  remove  the  con- 
ditions which  lead  to  such  an  untoward  result. 
Most  human  failures  are  the  result  of  bad  social 
arrangements,  and  they  constitute  an  indictment 
against  human  inertness  and  selfishness.  It  is  a 
terrible  responsibility  to  turn  a  human  soul  out  of 
terrestrial  life  worse  than  when  it  entered  that 
phase  of  existence.  In  so  far  as  it  accomplishes 
that,  humanity  is  performing  the  function  of  a 
devil.  Deterioration  of  others  is  usually  achieved 
under  the  influence  of  some  of  the  protean  forms 
of  social  greed  and  selfishness. 

Another  reason  why  selfishness  is  spoken  of  as 
specially  deadly,  and  even  suicidal,  depends  upon 
certain  regions  of  scientific  inquiry  not  yet  in- 
corporated into  orthodox  science  and  therefore 
still  to  be  regarded  as  speculative;  it  may  be  out- 
lined as  follows: — 

Our  present  familiar  methods  of  communicating 
with  one  another  are  such  as  speech,  writing,  and 
other  conventional  codes  of  signs  more  or  less 
developed.  It  appears  possible  that  a  germ  or 
nucleus  of  another,  apparently  immediate  or  di- 
rectly psychical,  method  of  communication  may 
also  exist;  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  our  known 
bodily  organs,  although  its  impressions  are  appre- 


SIN  57 

hended  or  interpreted  by  the  receiver  as  if  they 
were  due  to  customary  modes  or  forms  of  sensa- 
tion. Whether  that  be  so  or  not,  it  is  certain  that 
bodily  neighborhood  and  blood-relationship  con- 
fer opportunities  for  making  friends  which  should 
be  utilized  to  the  utmost,  and  that  friendship  and 
affection  are  the  most  important  things  in  life. 

The  intercourse  with,  and  active  assistance  of, 
others  enlarges  our  own  nature;    and  hereafter,     i/ 
when  we  have  lost  our  bodily  organs,  it  is  probable    [/  ' 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  communicate  only  with 
those  with  whom  we  are  connected  by  links  of 
sympathy  and  affection. 

A  person  who  cuts  himself  off  from  all  human 
intercourse  and  lives  a  miserly  self-centred  life,  will 
ultimately,  therefore,  find  himself  alone  in  the  uni- 
verse; and,  unless  taken  pity  on  and  helped  in  a 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  may  as  well  be  out  of  exist- 
ence altogether.  (A  book  called  Cecilia  de  Noel 
emphasizes  this  truth  under  the  guise  of  a  story.) 
That  is  why  developed  selfishness  is  spoken  of 
as  moral  suicide:  it  is  one  of  those  evil  things 
which  truly  assault  and  hurt  the  soul.  It  is  a  dis- 
integrating and  repelling  agency  Love  is  the  link-  1  * 
ing  and  uniting  force  in  the  spiritual  universe,  en-  | 
abling  it  to  cohere  into  a  unity,  in  analogy  with 
attractive  forces  in  the  material  cosmos. 

It   has    been    necessary    to    dwell    on    the    sin 
and    pain    and    sorrow    in    the    world,    but    the 


$8  SIN 

amount  of  good  must  be  emphatically  recognized 
too. 

Our  highest  aspirations,  and  longings  for. some- 
thing better,  are  a  sign  that  better  things  exist.  It 
is  not  given  to  the  creature  to  exceed  the  Creator 
in  imagination  or  in  goodness;  and  the  best  and 
highest  we  can  imagine  shall  be  more  than  fulfilled 
by  reality — in  due  time: — 

"All  we  have  willed  or  hoped  or  dreamed  of  good,  shall 

exist: 

Not  its  semblance,  but  itself;  .  .  . 
When  eternity  affirms  the  conception  of  an  hour." 


IX 
DEVELOPMENT  OF   LIFE 

Q.  9.  Are  there  beings  lower  in  the  scale  of  exist' 
ence  than  man  ? 

A.  Yes,  multitudes.  In  every  part  of  the  earth 
where  life  is  possible,  there  we  find  it  developed. 
Life  exists  in  every  variety  of  animal,  in  earth  and 
air  and  sea,  and  in  every  species  of  plant. 


STRUGGLE    FOR    LIFE  61 

CLAUSE    IX 

One  of  the  facts  of  nature,  which  we  must  weld 
into  our  conception  of  the  scheme  of  the  universe, 
is  the  strenuous  effort  made  by  all  live  things  to 
persist  in  multifarious  ways, — spreading  out  into 
quite  unlikely  regions,  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 
and  establishing  themselves  wherever  life  is  possi- 
ble. The  fish  slowly  developing  into  a  land  animal, 
the  reptile  beginning  to  raise  itself  in  the  air  and 
ultimately  becoming  a  bird,  the  mammal  return- 
ing under  stress  of  circumstances  to  the  water,  as  a 
seal  or  whale,  or  betaking  itself  to  the  air  in  search 
of  food,  in  the  form  of  a  bat, — all  these  are  in- 
stances of  a  universal  tendency  throughout  animate 
nature. 

Sometimes  this  determined  effort  at  persistence 
breeds  forms  that  appear  to  us  ugly  and  deleterious. 
For  the  struggle  results  not  only  in  beneficent 
organisms,  but  also  in  parasites  and  pests  and 
blights,  and  may  be  held  to  account  for  the  numer- 
ous cases  of  the  interference  of  one  form  of  life  with 
another:  one  form  utilizing  another  for  its  own 
growth,  and  sometimes  destroying  that  other  in  the 
process.  It  accounts  also  for  the  ravages  of  dis- 
ease, which  for  the  most  part  is  an  outcome  of  the 
establishment  of  a  foreign  and  alien  growth  in  a 
living  body  of  higher  grade, — a  growth  whose  vital 
secretions  are  poisonous  to  its  temporary  host.  On 


62  LIFE 

the  other  hand  the  theory  of  manuring,  the  purifi- 
cation of  rivers,  the  treatment  of  sewage,  the  use  of 
opsonins  and  of  serum-injections, — all  illustrate  the 
ministration  of  one  form  of  life  to  another;  they 
exhibit  the  contribution  of  beneficent  organisms, 
— that  is,  of  forms  of  life  which  promote  higher 
development  and  conduce  to  well-being. 

Many  of  the  microbes  and  bacteria  and  low 
forms  of  cell  life  are  beneficent  in  this  way;  and  it 
is  our  function, — as  ourselves  one  of  the  forms  of 
life, — now  consciously  to  intervene  and  take  con- 
trol of  these  vital  processes.  By  investigation  and 
study  we  can  gradually  understand  the  condition 
and  life  history  of  each  organism,  and  then  can 
take  such  measures  as  will  encourage  the  beneficent 
forms,  whether  plant  or  animal,  and  destroy  or 
eliminate  those  which  from  the  human  point  of 
view  are  deadly  and  destructive, — attacking  them 
at  their  weakest  and  most  vulnerable  stage.  Wide- 
ly regarded  or  interpreted,  this  function  covers  an 
immense  range  of  possible  activity — from  every 
kind  of  scientific  agriculture  and  the  extirpating  of 
tropical  diseases,  to  the  reformation  of  slum  dwell- 
ings and  the  encouragement  of  physical  training 
and  school  hygiene.  As  part  of  our  work  in  regu- 
lating this  planet  and  utilizing  its  possibilities  to 
the  utmost  for  higher  purposes,  the  regulation  of 
vital  conditions  is  probably  our  most  pressing,  and 
also  at  present  our  most  neglected,  corporate  duty. 


LIFE    AND    JOY  63 

Stupidity  and  a  mistaken  parsimony  are  among 
the  serious  obstacles  with  which  the  progressive 
portions  of  humanity  have-to  contend. 

Another  aspect  of  the  universal  struggle  for  self- 
manifestation  and  corporeal  realization,  which 
plays  so  large  a  part  in  all  activity  and  is  especial- 
ly marked  in  the  domain  of  life,  is  illustrated  on 
a  higher  level  by  that  overpowering  instinct  or 
impulse  towards  production  and  self-realization, 
which  is  characteristic  of  genius.  It  may  be  said 
that  throughout  nature,  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest,  a  tendency  to  self-realization,  and  a  mani- 
festation of  joy  in  existence,  are  conspicuous. 

It  is  thought  that  something  akin  to  this  tendency 
is  exhibited  in  a  region  beyond  and  above  what  is 
ordinarily  conceived  of  as  "Nature."  The  process 
of  evolution  can  be  regarded  as  the  gradual  unfold- 
ing of  the  Divine  Thought,  or  Logos,  throughout 
the  universe,  by  the  action  of  Spirit  upon  matter. 
Achievement  seems  as  if  irradiated  by  a  certain 
Happiness:  and  thus  P.  poet  like  Browning  is  led 
to  speak  of  the  Divine  Being  as  renewing  his  ancient 
creative  rapture  in  the  processes  of  nature: — joying 
in  the  sunbeams  basking  upon  sand,  sharing  the 
pleasures  of  the  wild  life  in  the  creatures  of  the 
woods, 

"Where  dwells  enjoyment  there  is  He;" 
and  so  to  conjecture  that 


64  LIFE    AND    JOY 

"God  tastes  an  infinite  joy 
In  infinite  ways — one  everlasting  bliss 
From  whom  all  bejng  emanates,  all  power 
Proceeds;  in  whom  is  life  for  evermore." 


X 

COSMIC   INTELLIGENCE 

Q.  10.  Are  there  any  beings  higher  in  the  scale 
of  existence  than  man  ? 

A.  Man  is  the  highest  of  the  dwellers  on  the 
planet  earth,  but  the  earth  is  only  one  of  many 
planets  warmed  by  the  sun,  and  the  sun  is  only 
one  of  a  myriad  of  similar  suns,  which  are  so  far 
off  that  we  barely  see  them,  and  group  them  in- 
discriminately as  "stars."  We  may  reasonably 
conjecture  that  in  some  of  the  innumerable  worlds 
circling  round  those  distant  suns  there  must  be 
beings  far  higher  in  the  scale  of  existence  than 
ourselves;  indeed,  we  have  no  knowledge  which 
enables  us  to  assert  the  absence  of  intelligence 
anywhere. 


COSMIC    LIFE  67 

CLAUSE   X 

The  existence  of  higher  beings  and  of  a  Highest 
Being  is  a  fundamental  element  in  every  religious 
creed.  There  is  no  scientific  reason  for  imagining 
it  possible  that  man  is  the  highest  intelligent  exist- 
ence— there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  we  dwellers 
on  this  planet  know  more  about  the  universe  than 
any  other  existing  creature.  Such  an  idea,  strictly 
speaking,  is  absurd.  Science  has  investigated  our 
ancestry  and  shown  that  we  are  the  product  of 
planetary  processes.  We  may  be,  and  surely  must 
be,  something  more,  but  this  we  clearly  are — a 
development  of  life  on  this  planet  earth.  Science 
has  also  revealed  to  us  an  innumerable  host  of 
other  worlds,  and  has  relegated  the  earth  to  its  now 
recognized  subordinate  place  as  one  of  a  countless 
multitude  of  worlds. 

Consider  a  spherical  region  bounded  by  the 
distance  of  the  farthermost  stars  visible  in  the 
strongest  telescope,  or  say  with  a  radius  corre- 
sponding to  a  parallax  of  one-thousandth  of  a 
second  of  arc,  so  that  the  time  taken  by  light  to 
travel  right  across  it  is  six  thousand  years: — Lord 
Kelvin,  treating  of  such  a  portion  of  Universe, 
says: 

"There  may  also  be  a  large  amount  of  matter  in 
many  stars  odtside  the  sphere  of  3-IO16  kilometres 
radius,  but  however  much  matter  there  may  be 


68  INTELLIGENCE 

outside  it,  it  seems  to  be  made  highly  probable,  by 
§§  11-21,  that  the  total  quantity  of  matter  within 
it  is  greater  than  one  hundred  million  times,  and 
less  than  two  thousand  million  times,  the  sun's 
mass."  (Philosophical  Magazine,  August,  1901.) 

It  does  not  follow  that  all  this  matter  is  dis- 
tributed in  masses  like  our  sun  with  its  attendant 
planets;  but,  on  the  average,  that  is  as  likely  an 
arrangement  as  another,  and  it  corresponds  with 
what  we  know. 

So,  given,  on  this  hypothesis,  the  existence  of 
some  thousand  million  solar  systems  or  families  of 
worlds,  within  our  ken,  and  knowing  what  we  do 
about  the  exuberant  impulse  towards  vital  develop- 
ment wherever  it  is  possible,  we  must  conclude  that 
those  worlds  contain  life;  and  if  so,  it  is  against  all 
reasonable  probability  that  the  only  world  of  which 
we  happen  to  know  the  details  contains  the  creature 
highest  in  the  entire  scale.  It  would  be  just  as 
reasonable  to  imagine,  what  we  happen  to  know  is 
false,  that  our  particular  sun  is  the  largest,  and  our 
particular  planet  the  brightest  of  all,  as  it  is  to  con- 
jecture that  this  world  is  the  highest  and  best,  or 
the  only  one  in  existence. 

The  self-glorifying  instinct  of  the  human  mind 
has  resented  this  negative  conclusion,  and  for  long 
clung  to  the  Ptolemaic  idea  that  the  earth  was  no 
mere  planet  among  a  crowd  of  others,  but  was  the 
centre  of  the  universe;  and  that  the  sun  and  all 


COSMIC    LIFE  69 

the  stars  were  subsidiary  to  it.  A  Ptolemaic  idea 
clings  to  some  of  us  still — not  now  as  regards  the 
planet,  but  as  regards  man;  and  we,  insignificant 
creatures,  with  senses  only  just  open  to  the  porten- 
tous meaning  of  the  starry  sky,  presume — some  of 
us — to  deny  the  existence  of  higher  powers  and 
higher  knowledge  than  our  own.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  be  careful  as  to  what  we  assert;  we  are 
liable  to  be  unscrupulous  as  to  what  we  deny.  It 
is  possible  to  find  people  who,  knowing  nothing  or 
next  to  nothing  of  the  Universe,  are  prepared  to 
limit  existence  to  that  of  which  they  have  had 
experience,  and  to  measure  the  cosmos  in  terms 
of  their  own  understanding.  Their  confidence 
in  themselves,  their  shut  minds  and  self-satisfied 
hearts,  are  things  to  marvel  at.  The  fact  is  that 
no  glimmer  of  a  conception  of  the  real  magnitude 
and  complexity  of  existence  can  ever  have  illu- 
minated their  cosmic  view. 


XI 

IMMANENCE 

Q.  II.  What  caused  and  what  maintains  exist- 
ence? 

A.  Of  our  own  knowledge  we  are  unable  to 
realize  the  meaning  of  origination  or  of  main- 
tenance; all  that  we  ourselves  can  accomplish  in 
the  physical  world  is  to  move  things  into  desired 
positions,  and  leave  them  to  act  on  one  another. 
Nevertheless  our  effective  movements  are  all  in- 
spired by  thought,  and  so  we  conceive  that  there 
must  be  some  Intelligence  immanent  in  all  the 
processes  of  nature,  for  they  are  not  random  or 
purposeless,  but  organized  and  beautiful. 


IMMANENCE  71 

CLAUSE  XI 
ORIGIN 

We  cannot  conceive  the  origin  of  any  funda- 
mental existence.  We  can  describe  the  beginning 
of  any  particular  object  in  its  present  shape,  but 
its  substance  always  existed  in  some  other  shape 
previously;  and  nothing  really  either  springs  into 
being  or  ceases  to  exist.  A  cloud  or  dew  becomes 
visible,  and  then  evaporates,  seeming  to  spring  into 
being  and  then  vanish  away;  but  as  water  vapor 
it  had  a  past  history  and  will  have  a  future,  both 
apparently  without  limit.  In  our  own  case,  and 
in  the  case  of  any  live  thing,  the  history  is  unknown 
to  us;  but  ultimate  origin  or  absolute  beginning, 
save  of  individual  collocations,  is  unthinkable. 

The  truth  that  science  teaches,  on  the  one 
hand,  is  that  everything  is  a  perpetual  flux, 

iravTO.  pel  icat  ovdev  /jcVei, 

that  nothing  is  permanent  and  fixed  and  unchange- 
able: 

"The  hills  are  shadows,  and  they  flow 
From  form  to  form,  and  nothing  stands; 
They  melt  like  mists,  the  solid  lands, 
Like  clouds  they  shape  themselves  and  go." 

On  the  other  hand  we  learn  that,  in  its  ultimate 
essence  and  reality,  everything  is  persistent  and 


72  IMMANENCE 

eternal;  that  it  is  the  form  alone  that  changes, 
while  the  substance  endures.  No  end  and  no  be- 
ginning—  a  continual  Eternal  Now — this  is  the 
scientific  interpretation  of  I  AM. 

There  are  those  who  think  that  in  the  last  resort 
the  ultimate  reality  will  be  found  to  be  of  the  nature 
of  Spirit,  Consciousness,  and  Mind.  It  may  be  so 
—it  probably  is  so — but  that  is  a  teaching  of  Phi- 
losophy, not  at  present  of  Science. 
The  teaching  of  religion  may  be  summarized  thus : 
"All  that  exists,  exists  only  by  the  communica- 
tion of  God's  infinite  being.  All  that  has  intelli- 
gence, has  it  only  by  derivation  from  His  sovereign 
reason;  and  all  that  acts,  acts  only  from  the  im- 
pulse of  His  supreme  activity.  It  is  He  who  does 
all  in  all;  it  is  He  who,  at  each  instant  of  our  life, 
is  the  beating  of  our  heart,  the  movement  of  our 
limbs,  the  light  of  our  eyes,  the  intelligence  of  our 
spirit,  the  soul  of  our  soul." — Fenelon. 

MAINTENANCE 

So  also  with  regard  to  maintenance. 

The  multifarious  processes  around  us — the  suc- 
cession of  the  seasons,  the  flow  of  sap  in  trees,  the 
circulation  of  our  own  blood,  the  digestion  of  our 
food — all  these  things  are  beyond  our  power,  and 
are  not  contrived  or  managed  by  our  conscious 
agency  —  not  even  the  occurrences  in  our  own 


IMMANENCE  73 

bodies.  But  by  means  of  such  unconscious  proc- 
esses our  muscular  and  nervous  systems  are  sup- 
plied with  nutriment,  and  we  thus  become  master 
of  a  certain  amount  of  energy. 

The  energy  of  our  muscles,  or  of  some  of  them, 
is  within  our  control,  and  we  can  thereby  direct 
other  physical  energies  into  desired  channels;  but 
we  cannot  in  the  slightest  degree  alter  the  amount 
of  that  energy.  We  utilize  terrestrial  energy,  by 
directing  and  controlling  its  transformations  and 
transferences,  within  the  limits  of  our  knowledge; 
but  we  do  it  always  by  moving  material  objects, 
and  in  no  other  way.  For  instance,  we  cannot 
directly  or  consciously  generate  an  electric  current, 
or  magnetism,  or  light,  or  life;  for  all  these  things 
we  depend  upon  partially  explored  properties  of 
matter,  which  we  can  arrange  in  a  certain  way  so 
as  to  achieve  a  desired  end. 

A  multitude  of  complex  processes  are  constantly 
occurring  in  our  bodies  without  any  intervention  of 
consciousness;  and  though  we  may  make  a  study 
of  the  functions  of  the  several  organs,  and  gradually 
learn  something  about  them,  it  is  a  study  as  of  some- 
thing outside  ourselves;  the  due  performance  of 
bodily  function  is  independent  of  our  volition.  We 
can  interfere  with  and  damage  our  organs,  and  with 
skill  we  can  so  arrange  damaged  parts  that  the  self- 
healing  process  shall  have  time  and  opportunity  to 
act;  we  can  also  introduce  beneficent  agencies  and 


74  IMMANENCE 

stimulating  drugs;  but  our  power  of  direct  action  is 
practically  limited  to  muscular  and  mental  activity. 

Digression  on  Rudimentary  Physiology 

It  is  well  for  children  to  have  some  conception 
of  the  complex  processes  constantly  occurring  in 
their  own  organisms. 

The  fact  that  the  heart  is  a  continuously  acting 
pump,  urging  the  blood  along  arteries  to  the  tissues, 
— to  places  where  it  picks  up  nutriment,  to  places 
where  the  crudely  enriched  blood  is  oxidized,  to 
places  where  the  elaborated  material  is  deposited 
so  as  to  replenish  waste  and  effect  growth — all  this 
should  be  known;  and  the  partial  analogy  with  the 
sap  of  trees,  rising  in  the  trunk  to  be  elaborated  in 
the  leaves  by  means  of  sunshine  and  air,  and  then 
descending  ready  to  be  deposited  as  liquid  wood, 
can  be  pointed  out. 

The  function  of  the  lungs,  wherein  the  blood  dis- 
persed throughout  a  spongey  texture  is  exposed  in 
immense  surface  to  the  air,  without  loss  or  leakage 
other  than  what  properly  transpires  through  the 
membranes,  and  the  consequent  advantage  of  deep 
breathing  and  of  fresh  clean  air, — all  this  has  a 
practical  as  well  as  a  theoretical  interest. 

The  lungs  are  more  under  voluntary  control  than 
the  heart,  but  the  way  exercise  increases  the  circula- 
tion, and  generally  blows  the  fires  of  the  body,  is 
also  of  practical  interest. 


IMMANENCE  75 

Some  idea  of  the  processes  of  digestion  can  be 
given,  especially  the  function  of  the  stomach  and 
the  intestines;  the  liver  may  be  too  difficult,  but  the 
salivary  glands  are  fairly  simple,  and  so  are  the 
kidneys  and  the  skin.  The  way  the  muscles  act  as 
an  efficient  mechanical  engine,  depending  on  the 
consumption  of  fuel  and  the  conservation  of  energy, 
can  be  superficially  explained,  with  some  idea  of 
the  stimulating  nervous  system  and  controlling 
brain  cells.  The  sensory  nerves  and  specialized 
nerve-endings  demand  specific  treatment. 

These  and  other  physiological  details  may  seem 
out  of  place,  but  they  are  strictly  appropriate;  for 
the  essence  of  Immanence  is  that  nothing  is  com- 
mon or  unclean,  until  abused:  and  the  nobler  the 
faculty,  the  fouler  is  the  degradation  caused  by  its 
abuse.  A  sense  of  the  responsibility  involved  in  the 
possession  or  lease  of  all  this  intricate  mass  of 
mechanism,  intrusted  to  our  care,  and  the  wish  to 
keep  it  in  good  order — without  giving  unnecessary 
trouble  to  others  to  set  it  right,  and  without  blas- 
pheming the  Maker  by  applying  it  to  bad  and  ig- 
noble ends — will  arise  almost  imperceptibly,  when 
the  body  is  even  begun  to  be  understood.  Many 
faults  originate  in  ignorance  and  want  of  thought. 

MIND  AND  MATTER 

Among  the  material  objects  we  move  are  the 
parts  of  our  own  bodies;  indeed,  it  is  through 


76  IMMANENCE 

muscular  intervention  or  agency  that  we  act  on 
bodies  is  general.  We  know  of  no  other  method. 
Even  when  we  speak  we  are  only  moving  certain 
face  and  throat  and  chest  muscles,  so  as  to  gen- 
erate condensations  and  rarefactions  in  the  air; 
which,  travelling  by  dynamical  properties,  excite 
corresponding  vibrations  or  movements  in  the  ear 
drum  of  our  auditor; — vibrations  not  in  themselves 
intelligible,  but  demanding  interpretation  from  the 
recipient.  So  also  it  is  with  the  traces  of  ink  left 
on  paper  by  our  muscular  action  when  we  write. 
Only  to  a  perceptive  eye,  and  informed  and  kin- 
dred mind,  have  they  any  meaning. 

It  is  probable  that  even  when  we  think,  some 
special  atomic  motion  goes  on  in  the  brain  cells, 
though  this  is  an  example  of  unconscious  move- 
ment, of  which  there  are  many  examples  in  bodily 
function;  but  directly  we  begin  to  attend  to  mental 
processes  we  leave  the  physical  region  as  under- 
stood by  us,  and  enter  a  more  deeply  mysterious 
psychical  region.  Unknown  as  this  is  for  purposes 
of  analysis,  from  the  point  of  view  of  experience  it 
is  more  immediately  familiar  than  any  other;  since 
it  is  through  the  activity  of  mind  that  every  other 
kind  of  existence  is  necessarily  inferred.  Thought 
is  our  mechanism  or  instrument  of  knowledge — 
through  it  we  know  everything — but  thought  is  not 
what  we  directly  know.  Primarily  we  think  of 
things,  not  of  thought  itself.  So  also  sight  is  our 


IMMANENCE  77 

instrument  of  seeing —  through  light  we  see — but  it 
is  not  light  that  we  perceive,  rather  it  is  the  objects 
which  send  it  in  certain  patterns  to  our  eyes. 

Whereas  we  can  act  on  the  external  world  only 
through  our  muscles;  in  ourselves  we  are  aware  of 
things  belonging  to  a  totally  different  category,  with 
which  muscle  and  movement  and  energy  appear  to 
have  nothing  to  do, — such  things  as  thought,  pur- 
pose, desire,  humor,  affection,  consciousness,  will. 
These  mental  faculties  seem  intimately  associated 
with,  and  are  displayed  by,  our  bodily  mechanism; 
but  in  themselves  they  belong  to  a  different  order  of 
being, — an  order  which  employs  and  dominates  the 
material,  while  immersed  or  immanent  in  it.  Every 
purposed  movement  is  preceded  and  inspired  by 
thought. 

Such  reasoned  control,  by  indwelling  mind,  may 
be  undetectable  and  inconceivable  to  a  low  order  of 
intelligence,  being  totally  masked  by  the  material 
garment;  and  the  purpose  underlying  our  activity 
may  only  be  inferred,  by  such  intelligence,  with 
as  great  difficulty  as  we  feel  in  detecting  indwell- 
ing Purpose  amid  the  spontaneous  operations  of 
Nature. 

Nevertheless,  whenever  our  movements  are  not 
controlled  by  thought  and  intelligent  purpose,  but 
are  left  to  chance  and  random  impulses,  like  the 
actions  of  a  man  whose  reason  has  been  unseated, 
nothing  but  error  and  confusion  result; — quite  a 


78  IMMANENCE 

different  state  of  things  from  anything  we  observe 
in  the  orderly  and  beautiful  procedure  of  nature. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  operations  of  nature 
are  spontaneous;  and  that  is  exactly  what  they  are. 
That  is  the  meaning  of  immanence.  "Spontane- 
ous," used  in  this  sense,  does  not  mean  random  and 
purposeless  and  undetermined:  it  means  actuated 
and  controlled  from  within,  by  something  indwell- 
ing and  all  pervading  and  not  absent  anywhere. 
The  intelligence  which  guides  things  is  not  some- 
thing external  to  the  scheme,  clumsily  interfering 
with  it  by  muscular  action,  as  we  are  constrained  to 
do  when  we  interfere  at  all;  but  is  something  within 
and  inseparable  from  it,  as  human  thought  is  within 
and  inseparable  from  the  action  of  our  brains. 

In  some  partially  similar  way  we  conceive  that 
the  multifarious  processes  in  nature,  with  neither 
the  origin  or  maintenance  of  which  have  we  had 
anything  to  do,  must  be  guided  and  controlled  by 
some  Thought  and  Purpose,  immanent  in  every- 
thing, but  revealed  only  to  those  with  sufficiently 
awakened  perceptions.  Many  are  blind  to  the 
meaning — to  the  fact  even  that  there  is  a  meaning 
—in  nature,  just  as  an  animal  is  usually  blind  to  a 
picture,  and  always  to  a  poem;  but  to  the  higher 
members  of  our  race  the  Intelligence  and  Purpose, 
underlying  the  whole  mystery  of  existence,  elabo- 
rating the  details  of  evolution  —  and  ultimately 
tending  to  elucidate  the  frequent  discords,  the 


IMMANENCE  79 

strange  humors,  and  puzzling  contradictions  of 
life — are  keenly  felt.  To  them  the  lavish  beauty 
of  wild  Nature — of  landscape,  of  sunset,  of  moun- 
tain, and  of  sea — are  revelations  of  an  indwelling 
Presence,  rejoicing  in  its  majestic  order — 

Travra  7r\fipr)  Qttiv. 

"Earth's  crammed  with  Heaven 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God." 

The  idea  that  the  world  as  we  know  it  arose  by 
chance  and  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms  is  one 
that  no  science  really  sustains,  though  such  an  idea 
is  the  superficial  outcome  of  an  incipient  recogni- 
tion of  the  uniformity  of  nature — a  sequel  to  the 
perception  that  there  is  no  capricious  or  spasmod- 
ic interference  with  the  course  of  events  and  no 
changes  of  purpose  observable  therein — such  as  we 
are  accustomed  to  in  works  of  human  ingenuity  and 
skill.  We  are  accustomed  to  associate  will  with 
the  degenerate  form  of  it  called  caprice,  and  to  con- 
sider that  purpose  must  be  accompanied  by  changes 
of  purpose;  so  that  a  steady,  uniform,  persistent 
course  of  action  is  puzzling  to  us,  and  wears  the 
superficial  aspect  of  mechanism.  An  omnipresent, 
uniform,  immanent  Purpose,  running  through  the 
whole  of  existence  without  break  of  continuity  or 
change  of  aim,  is  beyond  our  experience;  and,  like 
every  other  uniformity,  is  difficult  to  detect  or  re- 


80  IMMANENCE 

alize.  As  an  instance  of  this  difficulty,  I  need  only 
cite  the  long-delayed  discovery  of  an  all-embracing 
medium  like  the  terrestrial  atmosphere.  An  intelli- 
gent deep-sea  creature  would  find  it  most  difficult 
to  become  aware  of  the  existence  of  water.  Simi- 
larly humanity  has  existed  all  along  in  a  pervading 
and  interpenetrating  ether,  of  which  to  this  day 
men  have  for  the  most  part  no  cognizance;  although 
it  is  probably  the  fundamental  substratum  of  the 
whole  material  world,  underlying  every  kind  of 
activity,  and  constituting  the  very  atoms  of  which 
their  own  bodies  are  composed. 

Looking  at  the  truths  of  geometry,  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  the  beauty  and  organization  of  the 
visible  world,  it  is  as  impossible  rationally  to  sup- 
pose that  they  arose  by  chance,  or  by  mere  conten- 
tious jostling,  as  it  is  to  suppose  that  a  work  of  lit- 
erature or  a  piece  of  music  was  composed  in  that 
way. 

The  process  of  evolution  appears  to  us  self- 
sustained  and  self-guided,  because  the  guidance  is 
uniform  and  constant. 

In  nature  heredity  and  survival  will  explain  the 
persistence  of  a  fovorable  variation  when  once 
originated,  but  the  origin  or  variations  is  still 
mysterious,  and  the  full  meaning  of  heredity  is 
not  yet  unravelled. 

The  struggle  for  existence  has  been  one  of  the 
means  whereby  animal  life  has  been  developed  and 


IMMANENCE  81 

perfected;  but  now  that  it  has  become  conscious 
and  purposeful,  in  humanity,  the  apparently  blind 
struggle  is  suspended  at  the  higher  level,  and  the 
weak  and  suffering  are  attended  to  and  helped — 
not  exterminated.  Mere  struggle  and  survival  is 
an  inferior  instrument  of  progress,  and  it  can  be 
superseded  wherever  it  has  done  its  necessary  pre- 
liminary work.  The  Divine  purpose  is  fulfilled  in 
many  ways;'  and  far  more  can  be  expected  of  self- 
conscious  evolution  than  of  the  long  slow  process 
which  has  rendered  it  possible. 

The  kind  of  selection  actually  or  best  known  to 
us  is  that  which  has  been  directed  by  human  be- 
ings; and  inasmuch  as  the  highest  human  beings 
are  themselves  conscious  of  help  and  guidance,  it 
is  to  be  assumed  that  such  help  and  guidance  has 
been  in  constant  activity  all  along,  operating  on, 
or  rather  in,  the  refractory  materials,  so  as  slowly 
to  develop  in  them  the  power  of  manifesting  not 
only  life  and  beauty,  but  also  consciousness,  spir- 
itual perception,  and  free  will. 


XII 
SOUL  AND   SPIRIT 

Q.  12.  What  is  to  be  said  of  man  s*  higher  fac- 
ulties ? 

A.  The  faculties  and  achievements  of  the  high- 
est among  mankind — in  Art,  in  Science,  in  Philos- 
ophy, and  in  Religion — are  not  explicable  as  an 
outcome  of  a  struggle  for  existence.  Something 
more  than  mere  life  is  possessed  by  us — something 
represented  by  the  words  "mind"  and  "soul"  and 
"spirit."  On  one  side  we  are  members  of  the 
animal  kingdom;  on  another  we  are  associates  in 
a  loftier  type  of  existence,  and  are  linked  with  the 
Divine. 


MAN'S    HIGHER    FACULTIES        83 
CLAUSE  XII 

The  highest  of  those  who  have  walked  the  earth 
reveal  to  us  what  we,  too,  may  some  day  be :  they 
link  us  with  the  Divine,  and  teach  us  that,  however 
pathetically  defaced  by  our  infirmities  and  distorted 
by  our  imperfections,  we  may  yet  reflect  the  image 
of  God. 

[Part  of  the  following  explanation  is  based  upon 
a  study  of  certain  facts  not  yet  fully  incorporated 
into  orthodox  science,  nor  fully  recognized  by  phi- 
losophy: it  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  specu- 
lation^ 

This  idea,  which  permeates  literature — that  man 
has  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  material  origin — empha- 
sizes from  another  point  of  view  the  doctrine  of  the 
Fall;  inasmuch  as  the  utilization  of  a  material 
body,  of  animal  ancestry,  exposes  the  individual  to 
much  trial  and  temptation,  and  makes  him  aware 
of  a  contest  between  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  or  be- 
tween a  lower  and  a  higher  self,  which  constitutes 
the  element  of  truth  in  the  otherwise  mistaken 
doctrine  of  "original,"  or  inherited,  or  imputed  sin. 
Vicarious  sin  is  a  legal  fiction :  so  is  vicarious  pun- 
ishment; vicarious  suffering  is  a  reality.  The 
mother  of  a  ne'er-do-well  knows  it:  it  is  undergone 
by  the  children  of  vicious  parents;  the  highest  souls 
have  felt  it  on  behalf  of  the  race  of  man;  but  it  is 
not  artificial  or  imputed  suffering,  it  is  genuine  and 


84  SOUL 

real;  and  experience  shows  that  it  can  have  a  re- 
deeming  virtue. 

The  double  nature  of  man, — the  inherited  animal 
tendencies,  and  the  inspired  spiritual  aspirations, — 
if  they  can  both  be  fully  admitted,  reconcile  many 
difficulties.  Our  body  is  an  individual  collocation 
of  cells,  which  began  to  form  and  grow  together  at 
a  certain  date,  and  will  presently  be  dispersed;  but 
the  constructing  and  dominating  reality,  called  our 
"soul,"  did  not  then  begin  to  exist;  nor  will  it  cease 
with  bodily  decay.  Interaction  with  the  material 
world  then  began,  and  will  then  cease,  but  we 
ourselves  in  essence  are  persistent  and  immortal. 
Even  our  personality  and  individuality  may  be 
persistent,  if  our  character  be  sufficiently  devel- 
oped to  possess  a  reality  of  its  own.  In  our  present 
state,  truly,  the  memory  of  our  past  is  imperfect 
or  non-existent;  but  when  we  waken  and  shake 
off  the  tenement  of  matter,  our  memory  and  con- 
sciousness may  enlarge  too,  as  we  rejoin  the  larger 
self  of  which  only  a  part  is  now  manifested  in 
mortal  flesh. 

The  ancient  doctrine  of  a  previous  state  of  ex- 
istence, of  which  we  are  now  entranced  into  forget- 
fulness,  is  inculcated  in  the  familiar  lines — 

"Our  birth  is  hut  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting; 
The  Soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 
And  cometh  from  afar: 


MAN'S    HIGHER    FACULTIES        85 

Not  in  entire  forgetfulnesss 
And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home." 

the  idea  being  that  the  forgetfulness  is  not  complete, 
especially  during  infancy;  nor  need  it  be  complete 
in  moments  of  inspiration.  Myers'  doctrine  of  the 
subliminal  self  is  an  expanded  and  modified  form 
of  this  idea,  and  is  to  a  large  extent  apparently 
justified  by  a  certain  range  of  psychological  inquiry: 
though  Myers  lays  stress,  not  on  memory  of  a  past, 
but  on  a  present  occasional  intercommunication 
between  the  part  and  the  whole. 

The  Platonic  doctrine  of  reminiscence  exhibits 
one  aspect  of  the  idea  of  pre-existence,  though  in  a 
necessarily  inaccurate  and  somewhat  fanciful  form 
— as  if  infants  were  a  stage  higher  in  the  scale  than 
grown  men;  such  an  idea  would  involve  the  old 
mistaken  postulate  of  initial  perfection,  which  was 
made  long  ago  concerning  the  race:  whereas  the 
truth  was  innocency,  not  perfection.  But  the  idea 
that  nothing  less  than  the  whole  of  a  personality 
must  be  incarnated — even  in  the  body  of  an  infant 
— leads  to  innumerable  difficulties; — it  does  not 
even  escape  unanswerable  questions  about  trivi- 
alities such  as  the  moment  of  arrival;  and  it  is 
responsible  for  much  biological  scepticism  concern- 
ing the  existence  of  any  soul  at  all.  Whereas,  on 
the  strength  of  the  experience  that  all  processes  in 


86  SOUL 

nature  are  really  gradual,  the  idea  of  gradual  incar- 
nation— growing  as  the  brain  and  body  grow,  but 
never  attaining  any  approach  to  completeness  even 
in  the  greatest  of  men — sets  one  above  innumerable 
petty  difficulties,  and  to  me  seems  an  opening  in  the 
direction  of  the  truth.  On  this  view,  the  portion  of 
larger  self  incarnated  in  an  infant  or  a  feeble-mind- 
ed person  is  but  small:  in  normal  cases,  more  ap- 
pears as  the  body  is  fitted  to  receive  it.  In  some 
cases  much  appears,  thus  constituting  a  great  man; 
while  in  others,  again,  a  link  of  occasional  com- 
munication is  left  open  between  the  part  and  the 
whole — producing  what  we  call  "genius."  Second 
childishness  is  the  gradual  abandonment  of  the 
material  vehicle,  as  it  gets  worn  out  or  damaged. 
But,  during  the  episode  of  this  life,  man  is  never  a 
complete  self,  his  roots  are  in  another  order  of 
being,  he  is  moving  about  in  worlds  not  realized, 
he  is  as  if  walking  in  a  vain  shadow  and  disquieting 
himself  in  vain. 

It  may  be  objected  that  our  present  existence  is 
very  far  from  being  a  dream  or  trancelike  condi- 
tion, that  we  are  very  wide  awake  to  the  "  realities  " 
of  the  world,  and  very  keen  about  "things  of  im- 
portance"; that  an  analogy  drawn  from  the  memo- 
ries of  hypnotic  patients  and  multiple  personalities, 
and  other  pathological  cases,  is  sure  to  be  mislead- 
ing. It  may  be  so,  the  idea  is  admittedly  of  the 
nature  of  speculation;  but  the  greatest  of  poets,  in 


MAN'S    HIGHER    FACULTIES        87 

a  specially  inspired  passage,  lends  his  countenance 
to  the  notion  that  phenomena  and  appearances  are 
not  ultimate  realities, — that  our  present  life  is  not 
unlike  the  state  of  a  sleep-walker — that  we  slept  to 
enter  it,  and  that  we  must  sleep  again  before  we 
wake — 

"We  are  such  stuff 

As  dreams  are  made  of,  and  our  little  life 

Is  rounded  with  a  sleep." 

As  to  the  question  whether  we  ever  again  live  on 
earth,  it  appears  unlikely  on  this  view  that  a  given 
developed  individual  will  appear  again  in  unmodi- 
fied form.  If  my  present  self  is  a  fraction  of  a 
larger  self,  some  other  fraction  of  that  larger  self 
may  readily  be  thought  of  as  arriving, — to  gain  prac- 
tical experience  in  the  world  of  matter,  and  to  return 
with  developed  character  to  the  whole  whence  it 
sprang.  And  this  operation  may  be  repeated  fre- 
quently; but  these  hypothetical  fractional  appear- 
ances can  hardly  be  spoken  of  as  reincarnations. 
We  must  not  dogmatize,  however,  on  the  subject, 
and  the  case  of  the  multitudes  at  present  thwarted 
and  returned  at  infancy  may  demand  separate 
treatment.  It  may  be  that  the  abortive  attempts 
at  development  on  the  part  of  individuals  is  like 
the  waves  lapping  up  the  sides  of  a  bowlder  and 
being  successively  flung  back;  while  the  general 
advance  of  the  race  is  typified  by  the  steady  up- 
rising of  the  tide. 


88  SOUL    AND    BODY 

Soul  and  Body    . 

The  philosophic  doctrine  of  the  "self"  on  this 
view  is  a  difficult  one,  and  involves  much  study. 
As  here  stated,  the  form  is  sure  to  be  crude  and 
imperfect.  Philosophy  resents  any  sharp  distinc- 
tion between  soul  and  body — between  indwelling 
self  and  material  vehicle, — it  prefers  to  treat  the 
self  as  a  whole,  an  individual  unit;  though  it  may 
admit  the  actual  agglomeration  of  material  par- 
ticles to  be  transient  and  temporary.  The  word 
"self"  can  be  used  in  a  narrower  or  in  a  broader 
sense:  it  may  signify  the  actual  continuity  of  per- 
sonality and  memory,  whereof  we  are  conscious;  or 
it  may  signify  a  larger  and  vaguer  underlying  re- 
ality, of  which  the  conscious  self  is  but  a  fraction. 
The  narrower  sense  is  wide  enough,  however,  to 
include  the  whole  man,  both  soul  and  body,  as  we 
know  him;  but  the  phrase  "subliminal  self"  covers 
ideas  extending  hypothetically  beyond  that. 

The  idea  of  Redemption  or  Regeneration,  in  its 
highest  and  most  Christian  form,  is  applicable  to 
both  soul  and  body.  The  life  of  Christ  shows  us 
that  the  whole  man  can  be  regenerated  as  he  stands; 
that  we  have  not  to  wait  for  a  future  state,  that  the  i 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  in  our  midst  and  may  be 
assimilated  by  us  here  and  now. 

The  term  "salvation"  should  not  be  limited  to 
the  soul,  but  should  apply  to  the  whole  man.  What 


SALVATION  89 

kind  of  transfiguration  may  be  possible,  or  may 
have  been  possible,  in  the  case  of  a  perfectly  emanci- 
pated and  glorified  body,  we  do  not  yet  know. 

In  a  still  larger  sense  these  terms  apply  to  the 
whole  race  of  man;  and  for  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind individual  loss  and  suffering  have  been  gladly 
expended.  Not  the  individual  alone,  but  the  race 
also,  can  be  adjured  to  realize  some  worthy  object 
for  all  its  striving,  to  open  its  eyes  to  more  glorious 
possibilities  than  it  has  yet  perceived,  to 

"...  climb  the  Mount  of  Blessing,  whence,  if  thou 
Look  higher,  then — perchance — thou  mayest — beyond 
A  hundred  ever-rising  mountain  lines, 
And  past  the  range  of  Night  and  Shadow — see 
The  high-heaven  dawn  of  more  than  mortal  day 
Strike  on  the  Mount  of  Vision! 


XIII 
GRACE 

Q.   13.  Is  man  helped  in  his  struggle  upward? 

A.  There  is  a  Power  in  the  Universe  vastly  be- 
yond our  comprehension;  and  we  trust  and  believe 
that  it  is  a  Good  and  Loving  Power,  able  and  will- 
ing to  help  us  and  all  creatures,  and  to  guide  us 
wisely,  without  detriment  to  our  incipient  freedom. 
This  Loving-kindness  continually  surrounds  us;  in 
it  we  live  and  have  our  real  being;  it  is  the  main- 
spring of  joy  and  love  and  beauty,,  jmd  we  call  it 
the  Grace  of  God.  It  sustains  and  enriches  all 
worlds,  and  may  take  a  multiplicity  of  forms;  but 
it  was  manifested  to  dwellers  on  this  planet  in  the 
life  of  Jesus  Christ,  through  whose  spirit  and  living 
influence  the  race  of  man  may  hope  to  rise  to 
heights  at  present  inaccessible. 


CHRISTIANITY  91 

CLAUSE   XIII 

The  guidance  exercised  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  by 
which  we  are  completely  surrounded,  is  not  of  the 
nature  of  compulsion;  it  is  only  a  leading  and 
helping  influence  which  we  are  able  to  resist  if  we 
choose. 

The  problem  of  manufacturing  free  creatures 
with  a  will  of  their  own,  to  be  led,  not  forced,  into 
right  action,  is  a  problem  of  a  different  nature 
from  any  of  those  that  have  ever  appealed  to 
human  power  and  knowledge.  What  we  are  ac- 
customed to  make  is  mechanism,  of  various  kinds; 
and  the  essential  difficulty  of  the  higher  problem 
is  so  obscure  to  us  that  some  impatient  and  unim- 
aginative persons  cry  out  against  its  slowness,  and 
wonder  that  everything  is  not  compulsorily  made 
perfect  at  once.  But  we  can  see  that  the  kind  of 
perfection  thus  easily  attainable  would  be  of  an 
utterly  inferior  kind. 

It  is  to  be  supposed  that  incarnation,  or  a  con- 
nection between  consciousness  and  material  mech- 
anism, is  auxiliary  to  the  difficult  process  of 
evolution  of  free  beings,  thus  indicated;  and  it  is 
probable  that  matter  is  thus  an  instrument  of  lofty 
spiritual  purpose.  Some  religious  systems  have 
failed  to  perceive  this,  and  have  depreciated  matter 
and  flesh  as  intrinsically  evil. 

One  important  feature  of  Christianity  is  that  it 


92  GRACE 

recognizes  as  good  the  connection  between  spirit 
and  matter,  and  emphasizes  the  importance  of 
both,  when  properly  regarded.  It  is  not  mystical 
and  spiritual  alone,  nor  is  it  material  alone;  but  it 
tends  to  unify  these  two  extremes  and  to  place  in 
due  position  both  soul  and  body:  the  material  be- 
ing utilized  to  make  manifest  the  spiritual,  and 
being  dominated  by  it. 

The  whole  idea  of  the  Incarnation,  as  well  as 
some  of  the  miracles  and  the  sacraments,  are  ex- 
pressive of  this  wide  and  comprehensive  character 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

It  recognizes  the  wonder  and  beauty  of  the 
animal  body,  destined  to  be  the  scene  of  extraor- 
dinary spiritual  triumphs  in  the  long  course  of 
time;  and  it  teaches 

"That  none  but  Gods  could  build  this  house  of  ours, 
So  beautiful,  vast,  various,  so  beyond 
All  work  of  man,  yet,  like  all  work  of  man, 
A  beauty  with  defect — till  That  which  knows, 
And  is  not  known,  but  felt  thro'  what  we  feel 
Within  ourselves  is  highest,  shall  descend 
On  this  half-deed,  and  shape  it  at  the  last 
According  to  the  Highest  in  the  Highest." 

Christianity  is  a  planetary  and  human  religion: 
being  the  revelation  of  those  aspects  of  Godhead 
which  are  most  intelligible  and  helpful  to  us  in 
our  present  stage  of  development.  But  it  is  more 
than  a  revelation,  it  is  a  manifestation  of  some 


INCARNATION  93 

of  the  attributes  of  Godhead  in  the  form  of 
humanity. 

The  statement  that  Christ  and  God  are  one,  is 
not  really  a  statement  concerning  Christ,  but  a 
statement  concerning  what  we  understand  by  God. 
It  is  useless,  and  in  the  literal  sense  preposterous, 
to  explain  the  known  in  terms  of  the  unknown: 
the  converse  is  the  right  method.  "He  that  hath 
seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father."  Every  son  of  man 
is  potentially  also  a  son  of  God,  but  the  union  was 
deepest  and  completest  in  the  Galilean. 

The  ideas  of  incarnation  and  revelation  are  not 
confined  to  the  domain  of  religion;  they  are  com- 
mon to  music  and  letters  and  science:  in  all  we  can 
recognize  "  a  flash  of  the  will  that  can," 

"All  through  my  keys  that  gave  their  sounds  to  a  wish 

of  my  soul, 

All  through  my  soul  that  praised,  as  the  wish  flowed 
visibly  forth." 

The  spirit  of  Beethoven  is  incarnate  in  his  music; 
and  he  that  hath  heard  the  Fifth  Symphony  hath 
heard  Beethoven. 

The  Incarnation  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  man  is 
the  central  feature  of  Terrestrial  History.  It  is 
through  man,  and  the  highest  man,  that  the  revela- 
tion of  what  is  meant  by  Godhead  must  necessarily 
come.  The  world — even  the  common  every-day 
world — has  accepted  this,  and  is  able  to  perceive 


94  GRACE 

its  appropriateness  and  truth;  and  the  traditional 
song  of  the  angels,  at  the  epoch  of  the  Birth— 

"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
Earth  peace,  good  will  among  men," 

is  still  heard  in  the  land.  Whenever  there  is  war 
at  Christmas-time  it  is  universally  felt  to  be  incon- 
gruous. Good  will  among  men  is  conspicuous  in 
cessation  of  private  feuds,,  in  overladen  post-bags, 
in  family  reunions  and  Christmas  hampers  and  all 
manner  of  homely  frivolities. 

The  Incarnation  doctrine  is  the  glorification  of 
human  effort,  and  the  sanctification  of  childhood 
and  simplicity  of  life;  but  it  is  a  pity  to  reduce  it 
to  a  dogma.  It  is  well  to  leave  something  to  in- 
tuitive apprehension,  and  to  let  the  life  and  death 
of  Christ  gradually  teach  their  own  eloquent  lesson 
without  premature  dogmatic  assistance. 

From  that  event  we  date  our  history,  and  the 
strongest  believer  in  immanent  Godhead  can  admit 
that  the  life  of  Jesus  was  an  explicit  and  clear- 
voiced  message  of  love  to  this  planet  from  the 
Father  of  all.  Naturally  our  conception  of  God- 
head is  still  only  indistinct  and  partial,  but,  so  far 
as  we  are  as  yet  able  to  grasp  it,  we  must  reach  it 
through  recognition  of  the  extent  and  intricacy  of 
the  Cosmos,  and  more  particularly  through  the 
highest  type  and  loftiest  spiritual  development  of 
man  himself. 


CHRISTIANITY  95 

The  most  essential  element  in  Christianity  is  its 
conception  of  a  human  God;  of  a  God,  in  the  first 
place,  not  apart  from  the  Universe,  not  outside  it 
and  distinct  from  it,  but  immanent  in  it;  yet  not 
immanent  only,  but  actually  incarnate,  incarnate 
in  it  and  revealed  in  the  Incarnation.  The  nature 
of  God  is  displayed  in  part  by  everything,  to  those 
who  have  eyes  to  see,  but  is  displayed  most  clearly 
and  fully  by  the  highest  type  of  existence,  the  high- 
est experience  to  which  the  process  of  evolution  has 
so  far  opened  our  senses. 

"Tis  the  sublime  of  man, 
Our  noontide  majesty,  to  know  ourselves 
Part  and  proportion  of  one  wondrous  whole." 

The  Humanity  of  God,  the  Divinity  of  man,  is 
the  essence  of  the  Christian  revelation.  It  was 
truly  the  manifestation  of  Immanuel. 

The  Christian  idea  of  God  is  not  that  of  a  being 
outside  the  universe,  above  its  struggles  and  ad- 
vances, looking  on  and  taking  no  part  in  the  proc- 
ess, solely  exalted,  beneficent,  self-determined,  and 
complete;  no,  it  is  also  that  of  a  God  who  loves, 
who  yearns,  who  suffers,  who  keenly  laments  the 
rebellious  and  misguided  activity  of  the  free  agents 
brought  into  being  by  Himself  as  part  of  Himself, 
who  enters  into  the  storm  and  conflict,  and  is  sub- 
ject to  conditions  as  the  soul  of  it  all. 

This  is  the  truth  which  has  been  reverberating 


96  GRACE 

down  the  ages  ever  since;  it  has  been  the  hidden 
inspiration  of  saint,  apostle,  prophet,  martyr,  and, 
in  however  dim  and  vague  a  form,  has  given  hope 
and  consolation  to  the  unlettered  and  poverty- 
stricken  millions: — A  God  that  could  understand, 
that  could  suffer,  that  could  sympathize,  that  had 
felt  the  extremity  of  human  anguish,  the  agony  of 
bereavement,  had  submitted  even  to  the  brutal 
hopeless  torture  of  the  innocent,  and  had  become 
acquainted  with  the  pangs  of  death — this  has  been 
the  chief  consolation  of  the  Christian  religion. 
This  is  the  extraordinary  conception  of  Godhead 
to  which  we  have  thus  far  risen.  "This  is  My 
beloved  Son." 

"Enough  that  he  heard  it  once;  we  shall  hear  it 
by-and-by."  The  Christian  God  is  revealed  as  the 
incarnate  Spirit  of  humanity;  or  rather  the  incar- 
nate spirit  of  humanity  is  recognized  as  a  real 
intrinsic  part  of  God.  "The  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  within  you." 


XIV 
INSPIRATION 

Q.  14.  How  may  we  become  informed  concerning 
things  too  high  for  our  own  knowledge? 

A.  We  should  strive  to  learn  from  the  great 
teachers,  the  prophets  and  poets  and  saints  of  the 
human  race,  and  should  seek  to  know  and  to 
interpret  their  inspired  writings. 


THE    TRUTH    OF  .INSPIRATION     99 
CLAUSE   XIV 

People  at  a  low  stage  of  development  are  liable  to 
think  that  they  can  arrive  at  truth  by  their  unaided 
judgment  and  insight,  and  that  they  need  not  con- 
cern themselves  with  the  thoughts  and  experiences 
of  the  past.  Unconscious  of  any  inspiration  them- 
selves, they  decline  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of 
such  a  thing,  and  regard  it  as  a  fanciful  notion  of 
unpractical  and  dreamy  people. 

Great  men,  on  the  other  hand,  are  the  finger- 
posts and  loadstars  of  humanity;  it  is  with  their 
aid  that  we  steer  our  course,  if  we  are  wise,  and  the 
records  of  their  thought  and  inspiration  are  of  the 
utmost  value  to  us. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  literature  in  general,  and 
of  that  mass  of  ancient  religious  literature  in  par- 
ticular, on  which  hundreds  of  scholars  have  be- 
stowed their  best  energies:  now  translated,  bound 
together,  and  handed  down  to  us  as  the  Canon  of 
Scripture, — of  which  some  portions  are  the  most 
inspired  writings  yet  achieved  by  humanity.  It  is 
impossible  for  us  to  ignore  the  concurrent  mass  of 
human  testimony  therein  recorded,  the  substantial 
and  general  truth  of  which  has  been  vouched  for 
by  the  prophets  and  poets  and  seers  of  all  time; 
and  accordingly,  if  we  are  to  form  worthy  beliefs 
regarding  the  highest  conceptions  in  the  Universe, 
we  must  avail  ourselves  of  all  this  testimony — dis- 


ioo  INSPIRATION 

criminating  and  estimating  its  relative  value  in  the 
light  of  our  own  judgment  and  experience,  study- 
ing such  works  and  criticism  as  are  accessible  to 
us,  asking  for  the  guidance  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
and  seeking  with  modest  and  careful  patience  to 
apprehend  something  in  the  direction  of  the  truth. 


XV 

A  CREED 

Q.  15.  What,  then,  do  you  reverently  believe  can 
be  deduced  from  a  study  of  the  records  and  traditions 
of  the  past  in  the  light  of  the  present? 

A.  I  believe  in  one  Infinite  and  Eternal  Being, 
a  guiding  and  loving  Father,  in  whom  all  things 
consist. 

I  believe  that  the  Divine  Nature  is  specially  re- 
vealed to  man  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who 
lived  and  taught  and  suffered  in  Palestine  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago,  and  has  since  been  worshipped 
by  the  Christian  Church  as  the  immortal  Son  of 
God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

I  believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  ever  ready  to  help 
us  along  the  Way  towards  Goodness  and  Truth; 
that  prayer  is  a  means  of  communion  between  man 
and  God;  and  that  it  is  our  privilege  through  faith- 
ful service  to  enter  into  the  Life  Eternal,  the  Com- 
munion of  Saints,  and  the  Peace  of  God. 


BELIEF  103 

CLAUSE  XV 

NOTES  ON  THE  CREED 

The  three  paragraphs  correspond  to  the  three 
aspects  or  personifications  of  Deity  which  have 
most  impressed  mankind, — 

The  Creating  and  Sustaining. 

The  Sympathizing  and  Suffering. 

The  Regenerating  and  Sanctifying. 

The  first  of  the  three  clauses  tries  to  indicate 
briefly  the  cosmic  as  well  as  the  more  humanly 
intelligible  attributes  of  Deity,  and  to  suggest  an 
idea  of  creation  appropriate  to  the  doctrine  of 
Divine  Immanence,  as  opposed  to  the  anthropo- 
morphic notion  of  manufacture.  The  idea  of 
evolution  by  guiding  and  controlling  Purpose  is 
suggested,  as  well  as  the  vital  conception  of  Father- 
ly Love. 

In  the  second  paragraph,  Time  and  Place  are 
explicitly  mentioned  in  order  to  emphasize  the  his- 
torical and  human  aspect  of  the  Christian  mani- 
festation of  Immanuel.  This  aspect  is  essential 
and  easy  to  appreciate,  though  its  idealization  and 
full  interpretation  are  difficult.  The  step  from  the 
bare  historic  facts  to  the  idealization  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel  has  been  the  work  of  the  Church,  in  the 
best  sense  of  that  word,  aided  by  the  doctrines  of 


104  BELIEF 

y 

the  Logos  and  of  Immanence,  elaborated  by  Philos- 
ophy. It  all  hangs  together  when  properly  grasp- 
ed, and  constitutes  a  luminous  conception;  but  the 
light  thus  shed  upon  the  nature  of  Deity  must  not 
blind  our  eyes  to  the  simple  human  facts  from 
which  it  originally  emanated.  The  clear  and  un- 
doubted fact  is  that  the  founder  of  the  Christian 
religion  lived  on  this  earth  a  blameless  life,  taught 
and  helped  the  poor  who  heard  him  gladly,  gath- 
ered to  himself  a  body  of  disciples  with  whom  he 
left  a  message  to  mankind,  and  was  tortured  to 
death  as  a  criminal  blasphemer,  at  the  instigation 
of  mistaken  priests  in  the  defence  of  their  own 
Order  and  privileges. 

This  monstrous  wrong  is  regarded  by  some  as 
having  unconsciously  completed  the  salvation  of 
the  race;  because  of  the  consummation  of  sacri- 
fice, and  because  of  the  suffering  of  the  innocent, 
which  it  involved.  The  Jewish  sacrificial  system, 
and  the  priestly  ceremony  of  the  scapegoat,  seem 
to  lead  up  to  that  idea, — which  was  elaborated  by 
St.  Paul  with  immense  genius,  and  taught  by  St. 
Augustine. 

Others  attach  more  saving  efficacy  to  the  life,  the 
example,  and  the  teachings,  as  recorded  in  the  Gos- 
pels; and  all  agree  that  they  are  important. 

But  in  fact  the  whole  is  important:  and  at  the 
foot  of  the  Cross  there  has  been  a  perennial  expe- 
rience of  relief  and  renovation.  Sin  being  the 


ATONEMENT  105 

sense  of  imperfection,  disunion,  lack  of  harmony, 
the  struggle  among  the  members  that  St.  Paul  for 
all  time  expressed; — there  is  usually  associated 
with  it  a  sense  of  impotence,  a  recognition  of  the 
impossibility  of  achieving  peace  and  unity  in  one's 
own  person,  a  feeling  that  aid  must  be  forthcoming 
from  a  higher  source.  It  is  this  feeling  which 
enables  the  spectacle  of  any  noble  self-sacrificing 
human  action  to  have  an  elevating  effect,  it  is  this 
which  gropes  after  the  possibilities  of  the  highest 
in  human  nature,  it  is  a  feeling  which  for  large 
tracts  of  this  planet  has  found  its  highest  stimulus 
and  completest  satisfaction  in  the  life  and  death  of 
Christ. 

The  willingness  of  such  a  Being  to  share  our 
nature,  to  live  the  life  of  a  peasant,  and  to  face  the 
horrible  certainty  of  execution  by  torture,  in  order 
personally  to  help  those  whom  he  was  pleased  to 
call  his  brethren,  is  a  race-asset  which,  however 
masked  and  overlaid  with  foreign  growths,  yet 
gleams  through  every  covering  and  suffuses  the 
details  of  common  life  with  fragrance. 

This  conspicuously  has  been  a  redeeming,  or 
rather  a  regenerating,  agency; — for  by  filling  the 
soul  with  love  and  adoration  and  fellow-feeling  for 
the  Highest,  the  old  cravings  have  often  been  al- 
most hypnotically  rendered  distasteful  and  repel- 
lent, the  bondage  of  sin  has  been  loosened  from 
many  a  spirit,  the  lower  entangled  self  has  been 


106  BELIEF 

helped  from  the  slough  of  despond,  and  raised  to 
the  shores  of  a  larger  hope,  whence  it  can  gradually 
attain  to  harmony  and  peace. 

The  invitation  to  the  troubled  soul — "Come,  and 
find  rest'* — has  reference,  not  to  relief  from  sin 
alone,  but  to  all  restlessness  and  lack  of  trust.  The 
Atonement  removes  the  feeling  of  dislocation;  it 
induces  a  tranquil  sense  of  security  and  harmony, — 
an  assurance  of  union  with  the  Divine  will. 

Every  form  of  Christianity  aims  at  salvation  for 
the  race  and  for  each  individual,  both  soul  and 
body;  but  different  versions  differ  as  to  the  means 
most  efficient  to  this  end.  Varieties  of  Christianity 
can  be  grouped  under  the  symbolic  names,  Paul, 
James,  Peter,  and  John;  with  the  dominating  ideas 
of  vicarious  sacrifice,  human  effort,  Church  ordi- 
nance, and  loving  kindness,  respectively. 

In  the  coldest  system  of  nomenclature  these  four 
chief  varieties  may  be  styled,  legaly  ethical,  ecclesi- 
astical^ and  emotional,  respectively.  More  favora- 
bly regarded,  the  dominating  ideas  may  be  classi- 
fied thus:— 

1.  Faith  in  a  divine  scheme  of  redemption. 

2.  Simple  life,  social  service,  honesty,  and  virtue. 

3.  Spiritual  sustenance  by  utilization  of  means 
of  grace. 

4.  Obedience,  unworldliness,  trust,  and  love. 
With  the  treatment  of  these  great  themes,  sec- 
tarian differences  begin:    differences  which  seem 


BELIEF  107 

beyond  our  power  to  reconcile.  We  need  not 
dwell  on  the  differences,  we  would  rather  empha- 
size the  mass  of  agreement.  Probably  there  is  an 
element  of  truth  in  every  view  that  has  long  been 
held  and  found  helpful  by  human  beings,  however 
overlaid  with  superstition  it  may  in  some  cases  have 
become;  and  probably  also  the  truth  is  far  from 
exhausted  by  any  one  estimate  of  the  essential 
feature  of  a  Life  which  most  of  us  can  agree  to 
recognize  as  a  revelation  of  the  high-water-mark  of 
manhood,  and  a  manifestation  of  the  human  attri- 
butes of  God. 

None  of  the  above  partially  overlapping  subdivi- 
sions of  Christianity  equal  in  importance  the  over- 
shadowing and  dominating  theory  emphasized  in 
the  above  creed:  namely,  the  idea  of  a  veritable 
incarnation  of  Divine  Spirit — a  visible  manifesta- 
tion of  Deity  immanent  in  humanity.  The  facts 
of  the  life,  testified  to  by  witnesses  and  idealized  by 
philosophers  and  saints,  have  been  transmitted 
down  the  centuries  by  a  continuous  Church — 
though  with  a  mingling  of  superstition  and  error. 

At  present  the  process  of  interpretation  has  been 
accompanied  by  a  sad  amount  of  discord  and  hos- 
tility, to  the  scandal  of  the  Church;  but  the  future 
of  religion  shall  not  always  be  endangered  by  suspi- 
cion and  intolerance  and  narrowness  among  pro- 
fessed disciples  of  truth.  There  must  come  a  time 
when  first  a  nation,  and  afterwards  the  civilized 


io8  BELIEF 

world,  shall  awake  and  glory  in  the  light  of  the 
risen  sun: — 

' — A  sun  but  dimly  seen 
Here,  till  the  mortal  morning  mists  of  earth 
Fade  in  the  noon  of  heaven,  when  creed  and  race 
Shall  bear  false  witness,  each  of  each,  no  more, 
But  find  their  limits  by  that  larger  light, 
And  overstep  them,  moving  easily 
Thro*  after-ages  in  the  love  of  Truth, 
The  truth  of  Love." 

The  emphasis  herein  laid  on  the  conception  oft 
the  human  nature  incorporated  into  Godhead,  is 
appropriate  to  this  country  and  to  the  Western 
World  generally;  but  we  thereby  imply  no  abuse  of 
the  religions  of  the  East,  in  their  proper  place,  any 
more  than  of  the  religions  of  other  planets.  Silence 
concerning  them  is  not  disrespectful.  It  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  any  one  world  has  a  monopoly  of 
the  Grace  of  God;  nor  does  it  exhaust  every  plan 
of  salvation.  In  estimating  the  value  of  another 
dispensation,  or  of  any  ill-understood  religion  (and 
no  one  can  perfectly  understand  and  appreciate 
more  than  one  religion,  if  that,  to  the  full),  the  old 
test  is  the  only  valid  one:  Do  men  gather  grapes  of 
thorns  or  figs  of  thistles  ? 

The  third  paragraph  speaks  of  our  progress 
along  the  Way  of  Truth  to  goodness  and  beauty  of 
Life,  and  of  the  assistance  constantly  vouchsafed  to 


BELIEF  109 

our  own  efforts  in  that  direction.  It  is  not  by  our 
own  efforts  alone  that  we  can  succeed,  for  we  can- 
not tell  what  lies  before  us,  and  we  lack  wisdom  to 
foresee  the  consequences  of  alternative  courses  of 
action, — one  of  which  nevertheless  we  instinctively 
feel  to  be  right.  Acts  of  self-will,  and  fanatical  de- 
termination, and  impatience,  may  operate  in  the 
wrong  direction  altogether;  and  effort  so  expended 
may  be  worse  than  wasted:  but  if  we  submit  our- 
selves wholly  to  a  beneficent  Power,  and  seek  not 
our  own  ends  but  the  ends  of  the  Guiding  Spirit  of 
all  things,  we  shall  obtain  peace  in  ourselves,  and 
may  hope  to  be  used  for  purposes  beyond  what  we 
can  ask  or  think.  This  kind  of  service  is  what,  in 
its  several  degrees,  will  be  recognized  by  the  Master 
as  "faithful";  and  it  is  by  being  faithful  in  a  few 
things  that  hereafter  we  shall  be  found  worthy  of 
many  things,  and  shall  enter  into  the  joy  of  our 
Lord. 

By  the  Holy  Spirit  is  meant  the  living  and  imma- 
nent Deity  at  work  in  the  consciousness  and  expe- 
rience of  mankind,— the  guider  of  human  history, 
the  comforter  of  human  sorrow,  the  revealer  of 
truth,  the  inspirer  of  faith  and  hope  and  love,  the 
producer  of  life  and  joy  and  beauty,  the  sustainer 
and  enricher  of  existence,  the  Impersonation  of  the 
Grace  of  God. 

This  mighty  theme  has  been  treated,  in  an  initial 
manner,  in  connection  with  Clause  XIII. 


no  BELIEF 

Supplementary  questions  will  be  asked  concern- 
ing other  terms  in  the  third  paragraph;  but  as  to 
the  phrase  with  which  the  Creed  concludes — the 
Peace  of  God — its  meaning,  we  are  well  assured, 
surpasses  understanding,  and  can  be  felt  only  by 
experience;  hence  no  supplementary  question  is 
asked  concerning  that  phrase. 


XVI 
THE   LIFE    ETERNAL 

Q.   16.   What  do  you  mean  by  the  Life  Eternal? 

A.  I  mean  that  whereas  our  terrestrial  existence 
is  temporary,  our  real  existence  continues  without 
ceasing,  in  either  a  higher  or  a  lower  form,  accord- 
ing to  our  use  of  opportunities  and  means  of  grace; 
and  that  the  fulness  of  Life  ultimately  attainable 
represents  a  growing  perfection  at  present  incon- 
ceivable by  us. 


CONTINUITY    OF    EXISTENCE     113 
CLAUSE   XVI 

Continuity  of  existence,  without  break  or  inter- 
ruption, is  the  fundamental  idea  that  needs  incul- 
cation, not  only  among  children  but  among  ig- 
norant people  generally;  and  the  survival,  from 
savage  times,  of  an  inclination  to  associate  a  full 
measure  of  departed  personality  with  the  discarded 
and  decomposing  bodily  remnant, — under  the  im- 
pression that  it  will  awake  and  live  again  at  some 
future  day, — should  be  steadily  discouraged.  The 
idea  of  bodily  resurrection,  in  this  physical  sense, 
is  responsible  for  much  superstition  and  for  some 
ecclesiastical  abuses. 

A  nearer  approach  to  the  truth  may  be  expressed 
thus : — • 

Terrestrial  existence  is  dependent  for  its  con- 
tinuance on  a  certain  arrangement  of  material 
particles  belonging  to  the  earth,  which  are  gradual- 
ly collected  and  built  up  into  the  complex  and 
constantly  changing  structure  called  a  body.  The 
correspondence  or  connection  between  matter  and 
spirit,  as  thus  exhibited,  is  common  to  every  form 
of  life  in  some  degree,  and  is  probably  a  symbol  or 
sample  of  something  permanently  true;  so  that  a 
double  aspect  of  every  fundamental  existence  is  like- 
ly always  to  continue.  But  identity  of  person  in  no 
way  depends  upon  identity  of  particles:  the  particles 
are  frequently  changed  and  the  old  ones  discarded. 


H4  IMMORTALITY 

The  term  "body"  should  be  explained  and 
emphasized,  as  connoting  anything  whieh  is  able 
to  manifest  feelings,  emotions,  and  thoughts,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  operate  efficiently  on  its  en- 
vironment. The  temporary  character  of  the  pres- 
ent human  body  should  be  admitted  for  purposes 
of  religion;  it  usefully  and  truthfully  displays  the 
incarnate  part  of  us  during  the  brief  episode  of 
terrestrial  life,  and  when  it  has  served  its  turn  it  is 
left  behind:  its  particles  being  discarded  and  dis- 
persed. Hereafter  —  we  are  taught  —  an  equally 
efficient  vehicle  of  manifestation,  similarly  appro- 
priate to  our  new  environment,  will  not  be  lacking; 
this  at  present  unknown  and  hypothetical  entity  is 
spoken  of  as  "a  spiritual  body,"  and  represents 
the  serious  idea  underlying  crude  popular  notions 
about  bodily  resurrection. 

Our  bodies  have  been  likened  to  ripples  raised 
by  wind  upon  water,  displaying  in  visible  form  the 
motion  and  influence  of  the  operating  breath,  with- 
out being  permanently  differentiated  from  the  vast 
whole,  of  which  the  ripple  is  a  temporarily  indi- 
vidualized portion:  individualized,  yet  not  isolated 
from  others,  but  connected  with  them  by  the  ocean, 
of  whose  immensity  they  may  be  supposed  for 
poetic  purposes  gradually  to  become  aware: — 

"But  that  one  ripple  on  the  boundless  deep 
Feels  that  the  deep  is  boundless,  and  itself 


CONTINUITY    OF    EXISTENCE     115 

Forever  changing  form,  but  evermore 

One  with  the  boundless  motion  of  the  deep." 

There  is  much  to  be  said  for  some  form  of  doc- 
trine of  a  common  psychological  basis  or  union  of 
minds — some  kind  of  Anima  Mundi,  some  World- 
Mind,  of  which  we  are  all  fragments,  and  to  which 
all  knowledge  is  in  a  manner  accessible;  but  the 
analogy  of  ocean  ripples  or  icebergs  need  not  be 
pressed  to  support  the  idea  of  a  cessation  of  indi- 
vidual existence,  when  a  given  ripple  or  a  given 
iceberg  subsides.  All  analogies  fail  at  some  point. 
The  ocean  analogy  happens  to  suggest  indistin- 
guishable absorption  or  Nirvana,  but  others  do  not. 
The  parts  of  a  jelly  are  linked  together  and  vibrate 
as  a  whole,  but  each  little  sac  of  fluid  is  partitioned 
off  as  an  individual  entity;  in  touch  with  all  the 
rest,  but  with  a  texture  and  a  color  of  its  own. 

Continued  personality,  persistent  individual  ex- 
istence, cannot  be  predicated  of  things  which  do 
not  possess  personality  or  individuality  or  char- 
acter: but,  to  things  which  do  possess  these  attri- 
butes, continuity  and  persistence  not  only  may,  but 
must,  apply;  unless  we  are  to  suppose  that  actual 
existence  suddenly  ceases.  There  must  be  a  con- 
servation of  character,  notwithstanding  the  admit- 
ted return  of  the  individual  to  a  central  store  or 
larger  self, — from  which  a  portion  was  differen- 
tiated and  individualized  for  the  brief  period  during 


n6  IMMORTALITY 

which  the  planet  performs  some  seventy  of  its  in- 
numerable journeys  round  the  sun.  Absorption 
in  original  source  may  mask,  but  need  not  destroy, 
identity. 

Even  so  a  villager,  picked  out  as  a  recruit  and 
sent  to  the  seat  of  war,  may  serve  his  country,  may 
gain  experience,  acquire  a  soul  and  a  width  of 
horizon  such  as  he  had  not  dreamt  of;  and  when 
he  returns,  after  the  war  is  over,  may  be  merged  as 
before  in  his  native  village.  But  the  village  is  the 
richer  for  his  presence,  and  his  individuality  or 
personality  is  not  really  lost;  though  to  the  eye  of 
the  world,  which  has  no  further  need  for  it,  it  has 
practically  ceased  to  be. 

The  character  and  experience  gained  by  us  dur- 
ing our  brief  association  with  the  matter  of  this 
planet,  become  our  possession  henceforth  forever. 
We  cannot  shake  ourselves  free  of  them,  even  if  we 
would:  the  enlargement  of  ideas,  the  growth  in 
knowledge,  the  acquisition  of  friendships,  the  skill 
and  power  and  serviceableness  attained  by  us 
through  this  strange  experience  of  incarnation,  all 
persist  as  part  and  parcel  of  our  larger  self;  and  so 
do  the  memories  of  failure,  of  shame,  of  cruelty,  of 
sin,  which  we  have  acquired  here.  To  glory  in 
these  last  things  is  damnation:  the  best  that  they 
can  bring  to  us  is  pain  and  undying  remorse — their 
worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.  There 
is  no  way  out,  save  by  the  way  of  mercy  and  grace; 


CONTINUITY    OF    EXISTENCE     117 

whereby  we  are  assured  that  at  last,  in  the  long  last, 
we  may  ultimately  attain  to  pardon  and  peace. 

The  class  of  things  which  is  certainly  not  per- 
sistent, but  must  indubitably  be  left  behind  us  for- 
ever, is  the  weird  collection  of  treasures  for  which 
most  of  us  work  so  hard,  scorning  delights  and 
living  laborious  days  for  their  acquisition. 

In  this  blind  and  mistaken  struggle — a  struggle 
which  in  the  present  condition  of  society  seems  so 
unavoidable,  even  so  meritorious,  but  which  in  a 
reformed  society  will  be  looked  back  upon  as  at 
something  hard  to  understand — we  do  not  even 
make  to  ourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness. Its  mottoes  are  "each  for  himself" 
and  "vae  victis."  Fortunately  very  few  of  the  hu- 
man race  wholly  succumb  to  this  temptation,  nearly 
all  reserve  great  regions  of  their  lives  where  kind- 
ness and  friendliness  and  affection  reign,  and  they 
try  to  check  the  evil  results  of  their  worser  or  self- 
directed  efforts  by  charitable  doles. 

In  a  more  ideal  state  of  society  there  would  be  no 
need  either  of  the  poison  or  of  its  antidote. 

To  bring  about  such  an  ideal  state  of  society  is 
the  end  and  aim  of  Politics,  and  of  all  movements 
for  social  reform.  Efforts  in  these  directions  are 
the  most  serious  things  in  life,  and  may  be  the 
most  fruitful  in  vital  results:  since  few  individuals 
are  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  pressure  and 
tendency  of  their  social  surroundings;  only  a  few 


n8  THE    LIFE    ETERNAL 

can  rise  superior  to  them,  only  a  few  sink  far 
beneath  them;  the  majority  drift  with  the  crowd 
and  become — too  many  at  present — irretrievably 
injured  by  the  base  and  ugly  conditions  among 
which  their  lives  are  cast. 

At  present,  for  the  majority  of  Englishmen,  life 
is  liable  to  be  damaging  and  deleterious:  initial 
weakness  of  character,  so  far  from  being  strength- 
ened and  helped  by  the  combined  force  of  society, 
is  hindered  and  enfeebled  thereby, — a  disastrous 
and  disquieting  condition  of  things.  But  when  the 
efforts  of  self-sacrificing  and  laborious  statesmen, 
Ministers  in  the  highest  sense  (Mark  x.  43), — when 
these  efforts  at  cultivation  bear  fruit, — then,  not- 
withstanding individual  lapses  here  and  there,  so- 
ciety at  large  will  be  indistinguishable  from  a  hu- 
man branch  of  the  Communion  of  Saints.  Then 
will  feeble  impulses  towards  virtue  be  fostered, 
cultivated,  and  encouraged;  the  bruised  reed  will 
no  longer  be  broken  and  trampled  in  the  mire. 

The  Life  Eternal  in  its  fullest  sense  must  be 
entered  upon  here  and  now.  The  emphasis  is  on 
the  word  Life,  without  reference  to  time.  "I  am 
come  that  ye  might  have  Life."  Life  of  a  far 
higher  kind  than  any  yet  we  know  is  attainable 
by  the  human  race  on  this  planet.  It  rests  largely 
with  ourselves.  The  outlook  was  never  brighter 
than  it  is  to-day;  many  workers  and  thinkers  are 
making  ready  the  way  for  a  Second  Advent, — a 


THE    LIFE    ETERNAL  119 

reincarnation  of  the  Logos  in  the  heart  of  all  men; 
the  heralds  are  already  preparing  their  songs  for  a 
reign  of  brotherly  love;  already  there  are  "signs 
of  his  coming  and  sounds  of  his  feet";  and  upon 
our  terrestrial  activity  the  date  of  this  Advent 
depends. 


XVII 
THE   COMMUNION   OF   SAINTS 

Q.  17.  What  is  the  significance  of  the  "Com- 
munion of  Saints"? 

A.  Higher  and  holier  beings  must  possess,  in 
fuller  fruition,  those  privileges  of  communion  which 
are  already  foreshadowed  by  our  own  faculties  of 
language,  of  sympathy,  and  of  mutual  aid;  and  as 
we  find  that  man's  power  of  friendly  help  is  not 
confined  to  his  fellows,  but  extends  to  other  ani- 
mals, so  may  we  conceive  ourselves  part  of  a  mighty 
Fellowship  of  love  and  service. 


FELLOWSHIP  121 

CLAUSE   XVII 

Here  is  opened  up  a  great  subject  on  which  much 
remains  to  be  discovered.  It  is  probable  that  the 
action  of  the  Deity  throughout  the  Universe  is  al- 
ways conducted  through  intermediaries  and  agents. 
In  all  cases  that  we  can  examine,  it  is  so;  and  this 
is  one  of  the  many  meanings  of  "Immanence." 

Humanity  is  the  most  prominent  to  us,  among 
divine  agencies,  and  though  it  is  probably  only  an 
infinitesimal  fraction  of  the  whole,  yet  it  can  be 
studied  as  a  sample.  Experience  shows  us  that 
human  beings  have  feelings  of  sympathy,  pity,  and 
love,  and  can  be  moved  to  act  in  certain  ways  by 
persistent  urging  and  by  definite  requests.  There 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  faculty  of  hearing 
and  answering  is  limited  to  our  own  comparatively 
lowly  stage  of  existence.  Man  may  be  regarded  as 
a  germ  or  indication  of  far  more  powerful  agencies, 
of  which  at  present  we  know  very  little. 

The  faculty  of  communion  familiarly  possessed 
by  man  is  not  likely  to  be  exhaustive  of  all  possible 
methods  of  mental  and  spiritual  intercourse;  and 
in  the  undeveloped  power  of  telepathy  we  have  an 
indication  of  a  mode  apparently  not  dependent  on 
the  machinery  of  physical  processes,  and  not  neces- 
sarily limited  to  intelligencies  inhabiting  the  surface 
of  a  planet.  Why  associate  mind  only  with  the 
surface  of  a  mass  of  matter  ?  People  hope  some 


122          THE    CHURCH    INVISIBLE 

day  to  be  able  to  communicate  with  people  on 
Mars,  but  there  may  be  intelligences  far  more 
accessible  to  us  than  those  remote  and  hypothetical 
denizens  of  another  world.  The  immanent  Spirit 
of  nature  is  likely  to  individualize  and  personify  it- 
self in  ways  mysterious  and  unknown:  all  manner 
of  possibilities  lie  open  to  our  study  and  examina- 
tion; and — until  we  have  scrutinized  the  evidence, 
and  thought  long  and  deeply  on  the  subject — our 
negative  opinion,  based  upon  long  habit  and  tradi- 
tion, must  not  be  allowed  undue  weight.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  the  above  is  speculation,  not 
knowledge;  yet  something  like  it  has  received  the 
sanction  of  great  philosophers.  Here  is  an  ex- 
clamation of  Hegel: — 

"We  do  not  mean  to  be  behind;  our  watchword 
shall  be  Reason  and  Freedom,  and  our  rallying 
ground  the  Invisible  Church." 

So  far  our  eyes  are  open  to  perceive  only  the 
assiduous  operations  of  man;  and  any  supposed 
influence  of  other  agencies  we  regard  with  suspi- 
cion and  mistrust.  Some  are  inclined  to  think  that 
man  is  solitary  in  the  universe,  the  highest  of  cre- 
ated things;  without  equal,  without  superior,  with- 
out companionship;  alone  with  his  indomitable 
soul  amid  scenes  of  unspeakable  grandeur  and  awe; 
alone  with  his  brethren  in  a  universe  wherein  no 
spark  of  feeling,  no  gleam  of  intelligence  can 
be  aroused  by  his  unuttered  longings — no  echo 


COMMUNION    OF    SAINTS          123 

of    sympathy    can    respond    to    his    bewildered 
need. 

Yet  that  is  not  the  feeling  which  arises  during 
spells  of  lonely  communion  with  nature  —  on  rock 
or  sea  or  trackless  waste.  At  these  moments  comes 
a  sense  of  Presence,  such  as  Wordsworth  felt  at 
Tintern,  or  Byron  when  he  wrote: 

"Then  stirs  the  feeling  infinite,  so  felt 
In  solitude,  where  we  are  least  alone." 

Until  our  senses  are  opened  more  widely,  scepti- 
cism concerning  spiritual  beings,  as  intermediate 
links  with  absolute  Deity,  may  be  our  safest  atti- 
tude, for  ignorance  is  better  than  superstition;  but 
the  seers  of  the  human  race  have  surmised  that  as 
denizens  of  a  higher  universe  we  are  far  from 
lonely,  that  it  is  only  our  limited  perception  that  is 
at  fault,  and  that  to  clearer  eyes  the  whole  of  nature 
is  transfused  with  spirit:  tf 


'*  Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man." 


XVIII 
MYSTIC  COMMUNION  OR   PRAYER 

Q.   1 8.   What  do  you  understand  by  prayer? 

A.  I  understand  that  when  our  spirits  are  at- 
tuned to  the  Spirit  of  Righteousness,  our  hopes  and 
aspirations  exert  an  influence  far  beyond  their  con- 
scious range,  and  in  a  true  sense  bring  us  into  com- 
munion with  our  Heavenly  Father.  This  power  of 
filial  communion  is  called  prayer;  it  is  an  attitude 
of  mingled  worship  and  supplication;  we  offer 
petitions  in  a  spirit  of  trust  and  submission,  and 
endeavor  to  realize  the  Divine  attributes,  with  the 
help  and  example  of  Christ. 


PRAYER  125 

CLAUSE   XVIII 

In  prayer  we  come  into  close  communion  with  a 
Higher  than  we  know,  and  seek  to  contemplate 
Divine  perfection.  Its  climax  and  consummation 
is  attained  when  we  realize  the  universal  Perme- 
ance, the  entire  Goodness,  and  the  Fatherly  Love, 
of  the  Divine  Being.  Through  prayer  we  admit 
our  dependence  on  a  higher  power,  for  existence 
and  health  and  everything  we  possess;  we  are 
encouraged  to  ask  for  whatever  we  need,  as  chil- 
dren ask  parents;  and  we  inevitably  cry  for  mercy 
and  comfort  in  times  of  tribulation  and  anguish. 

The  spirit  of  simple  supplication  may  desire 
chiefly — 

1.  Insight  and  receptiveness  to  truth  and  knowl- 
edge. 

2.  Help  and  guidance  in  the  practical  manage- 
ment of  life. 

3.  Ability   and  willingness  to  follow  the  light 
whithersoever  it  leads. 

But  provided  we  ask  in  a  right  spirit,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  be  specially  careful  concerning  the 
kind  of  things  asked  for;  nor  need  we  in  all  cases 
attempt  to  decide  how  far  their  attainment  is  pos- 
sible or  not.  In  such  matters  we  may  admit  our 
ignorance.  What  is  important  is  that  we  should 
apply  our  own  efforts  towards  the  fulfilment  of  our 
petition,  and  not  be  satisfied  with  wishes  alone. 


126  PRAYER 

Everything  accomplished  has  to  be  done  by  actual 
work  and  activity  of  some  kind,  and  it  is  unreason- 
able to  expect  the  rest  of  the  universe  to  take 
trouble  on  our  behalf  while  we  ourselves  are  supine. 
Certain  material  means  are  within  our  control: 
these  should  be  fully  employed,  in  the  light  of  the 
best  knowledge  of  the  time. 

The  highest  type  of  prayer  has  for  its  object  not 
any  material  benefit,  beyond  those  necessary  for 
our  activity  and  usefulness,  but  the  enlightenment 
and  amendment  of  our  wills,  the  elevation  of  all 
humanity,  and  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom. 


XIX 
THE   LORD'S    PRAYER 

Q.  Rehearse  the  prayer  taught  us  by  Jesus. 

A.  OUR  FATHER,  WHICH  ART  IN  HEAVEN, 

HALLOWED  BE  THY  NAME. 

THY  KINGDOM  COME. 

THY  WILL  BE  DONE  IN   EARTH,  AS  IT  IS  IN 

HEAVEN. 

GlVE    US   THIS    DAY   OUR   DAILY   BREAD. 

AND  FORGIVE  US  OUR. TRESPASSES,  AS  WE  FOR- 
GIVE THEM  THAT  TRESPASS  AGAINST  US. 

AND  LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION;  BUT 
DELIVER  US  FROM  EVIL: 

FOR  THINE  is  THE  KINGDOM, 
AND  THE  POWER, 
AND  THE  GLORY, 
FOR  EVER. 


THE    LORD'S    PRAYER  129 

CLAUSE   XIX 

Q.   19.  Explain  the  purport  of  this  prayer. 

A.  We  first  attune  our  spirit  to  consciousness  of 
the  Divine  Fatherhood;  trying  to  realize  His  in- 
finite holiness  as  well  as  His  loving-kindness,  desir- 
ing that  everything  alien  to  His  will  should  cease  in 
our  hearts  and  in  the  world,  and  longing  for  the 
establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Then 
we  ask  for  the  supply  of  the  ordinary  needs  of  ex- 
istence, and  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins  and 
shortcomings  just  as  we  pardon  those  who  have 
hurt  us.  We  pray  to  be  kept  from  evil  influences, 
and  to  be  protected  when  they  attack  us.  Finally, 
we  repose  in  the  might,  majesty,  and  dominion  of 
the  Eternal  Goodness. 


XX 

» 

THE   KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 

Q.  20.  What  is  meant  by  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  ? 

A.  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  the  central  feat- 
ure of  practical  Christianity.  It  represents  a  har- 
monious condition  in  which  the  Divine  Will  is 
perfectly  obeyed;  it  signifies  the  highest  state  of 
existence,  both  individual  and  social,  which  we  can 
conceive.  Our  whole  effort  should,  directly  or  in- 
directly, make  ready  its  way, — in  our  hearts,  in  our 
lives,  and  in  the  lives  of  others.  It  is  the  ideal  state 
of  society  towards  which  Reformers  are  striving; 
it  is  the  ideal  of  conscious  existence  towards  which 
Saints  aim. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    HEAVEN       131 
CLAUSE  XX 

This  mighty  ideal  has  many  aspects.  It  has 
been  typified  as  the  pearl  of  great  price,  for  which 
all  other  property  may  well  be  sacrificed:  in  germ 
it  is  as  leaven,  or  as  growing  seed.  It  will  come 
sooner  than  is  expected, — though  for  a  time  longer 
there  must  be  tares  among  the  wheat:  for  a  time 
longer  there  shall  be  last  and  first,  and  a  striving 
to  be  greatest,  and  a  laying  up  of  earthly  treasure, 
and  wars  and  divisions;  but  only  for  a  time, — the 
spirit  of  service  is  growing,  and  the  childlike  spirit 
will  overcome: 

"Fear  not,  little  flock;  for  it  is  your  Father's 
good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  Kingdom." 

When  realized  it  will  conduce  to  universal  love 
and  brotherhood;  it  is  the  reign  of  Christ's  spirit 
in  the  hearts  of  all  men;  it  is  accordingly  spoken 
of  as  the  second  Advent,  and  its  herald  song  is  still, 
Peace  on  earth,  good-will  among  men.  Wherever 
perfect  love  and  willing  service  exist,  there  already 
is  the  Kingdom. 

We  have  to  realize  that  the  Will  of  God  is  to  be 
done  on  earth,  that  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  to 
be  a  present  Kingdom,  here  and  now,  not  relegated 
always  to  the  future.  Our  life  is  not  in  the  future, 
but  in  the  present,  and  it  will  always  be  in  the  pres- 
ent: it  is  in  our  life  that  we  have  to  apply  our  be- 
liefs, utilize  our  talents,  and  bring  forth  fruit.  The 


1)2  REGENERATION 

i 

Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  not  only  at  hand,  it  is 
potentially  in  our  midst  and  may  be  actually  within 
us.  These  are  its  two  chief  aspects,  the  social,  and 
the  individual.  The  ideal  is  to  be  made  real,  in 
each  and  in  all:  nothing  is  too  good  to  be  true: 
each  soul  is  to  attain  its  highest  aim :  the  world  is 
to  be  transfigured  and  transformed. 

The  above  formula  must  not  be  supposed  to 
exhaust  the  meaning  of  the  great  Phrase,  which 
many  parables  have  still  only  partially  explained, 
but  it  is  a  part  of  its  meaning.  And  the  strange 
thing  is  that  the  world,  in  spite  of  its  violent  unrest, 
wrestling  and  contending  amid  unheeded  calls  to 
order,  is  really  working  towards  that  goal.  No 
other  ending  is  possible  in  the  long  run,  though 
it  has  been  long  delayed.  It  is  the  condition  to 
which  the  whole  of  humanity,  each  individual  man, 
as  well  as  the  race,  is  blindly  and  unconsciously 
struggling. 

"Their  prejudice  and  fears  and  cares  and  doubts 
All  with  a  touch  of  nobleness,  despite 
Their  error,  upward  tending  all,  though  weak, 
Like  plants  in  mines  which  never  saw  the  sun, 
But  dream  of  him  and  guess  where  he  may  be. 
And  do  their  best  to  climb  and  get  to  him." 

The  daily  toil,  in  city  office,  in  factory,  in  ship, 
in  mine,  in  home,  is  really  a  struggle  for  Life,  for 
freedom,  for  joy,  for  something  wider  and  better 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    HEAVEN       133 

than  we  at  present  know,  for  pleasures  that  satisfy 
and  do  not  pall.  We  needs  must  love  the  highest 
when  we  see  it;  but  as  yet  we  do  not  see  it:  so  we 
are  working  in  the  dark,  and  the  best  of  us  try  hard 
to  do  our  duty.  The  end  is  unrecognized,  the 
means  may  be  mistaken,  but  the  energy  is  there; 
and  the  race  as  well  as  the  individual  is  instinctively 
working  out  its  destiny; — thwarting  itself  constant- 
ly by  misdirected  endeavor,  yet  constantly  striving 
for  self-development  and  enlargement,  for  progress 
and  happiness.  And  this  is  true  even  when  the 
main  idea  of  enlargement  is  the  amassing  of  money 
in  unwieldy  heaps,  when  happiness  is  sought  in  an 
exaltation  of  imagination  by  deleterious  drugs,  or 
when  progress  is  thought  to  consist  in  the  slaughter 
and  impoverishment  of  opponents  who  might  be 
our  auxiliaries  and  allies. 

If  our  vision  should  be  cleared,  and  the  aim  of 
human  effort  could  be  changed,  the  earth  would 
put  on  a  new  complexion;  we  should  no  longer  be 
tempted  to  think  of  humanity  as  of  an  ancient  and 
effete  and  played-out  product  of  evolution, — we  the 
latest-born  and  most  youthful  of  all  the  creatures 
on  the  planet, — but  should  regard  everything  with 
the  eye  of  hope,  as  of  one  new-born,  with  senses 
quickened  to  perceive  joys  and  beauties  hitherto 
undreamed  of. 

That  is  the  meaning  of  Regeneration  or  new 
birth :  it  must  be  like  an  awakening  out  of  trance. 


134  REGENERATION 

At  present  we  are  as  if  subject  to  a  dream  illusion, 
in  a  slumber  which  we  are  unable  to  throw  off. 
Revelation  after  revelation  has  come  to  us,  but  our 
senses  are  deadened  and  we  will  not  hear,  our  hands 
are  full  of  clay,  we  have  no  grasp  for  ideals,  we  are 
mistaking  appearance  for  reality.  But  the  time  for 
awakening  must  be  drawing  nigh — the  time  when 
again  it  may  be  said:  "The  people  that  walked  in 
darkness  have  seen  a  great  light:  they  that  dwell  in 
the  land  of  the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath 
the  light  shined." 

Meanwhile  our  seers  depict  man's  half-hoping 
half-despairing  attitude,  not  so  much  as  a  striving, 
as  a  waiting: — the  striving  is  obvious,  but  the  un- 
conscious waiting  is  what  they  detect — waiting  as  it 
were  for  the  arrival  of  a  new  sense,  a  new  percep- 
tion of  the  value  of  life: — 

"And  we,  the  poor  earth's  dying  race,  and  yet 
No  phantoms,  watching  from  a  phantom  shore 
Await  the  last  and  largest  sense  to  make 
The  phantom  walls  of  this  illusion  fade, 
And  show  us  that  the  world  is  wholly  fair." 


THE     CLAUSES     OF    THE     CATECHISM 
REPEATED 


THE  CATECHISM 

Q.   I.   What  are  you? 

A.  I  am  a  being  alive  and  conscious  upon  this 
earth;  a  descendant  of  ancestors  who  rose  by 
gradual  processes  from  lower  forms  of  animal  life, 
and  with  struggle  and  suffering  became  man. 

Q.  2.  What,  then,  may  be  meant  by  the  Fall  of 
man? 

A.  At  a  certain  stage  of  development  man  be- 
came conscious  of  a  difference  between  right  and 
wrong,  so  that  thereafter,  when  his  actions  fell 
below  a  normal  standard  of  conduct,  he  felt 
ashamed  and  sinful.  He  thus  lost  his  animal 
innocency,  and  entered  on  a  long  period  of  human 
effort  and  failure;  nevertheless,  the  consciousness 
of  degradation  marked  a  rise  in  the  scale  of  exist- 
ence. 

Q.  3.  What  is  the  distinctive  characteristic  of 
manhood? 

A.  The  distinctive  character  of  man  is  that  he 
has  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  his  acts,  having 


138  THE    CATECHISM 

acquired  the  power  of  choosing  between  good  and 
evil,  with  freedom  to  obey  one  motive  rather  than 
another.  Creatures  far  below  the  human  level  are 
irresponsible;  they  feel  no  shame  and  suffer  no 
remorse;  they  are  said  to  have  no  conscience. 

Q.  4.   What  is  the  duty  of  man? 

A.  To  assist  his  fellows,  to  develop  his  own 
higher  self,  to  strive  towards  good  in  every  way 
open  to  his  powers,  and  generally  to  seek  to  know 
the  laws  of  Nature  and  to  obey  the  will  of  God,  in  ' 

*¥Tr\  r\c>£i    OA**trl  /-»£*     *•»  I^-vv^  a    y»*-»t"i      r\/~»     »*-vii*"i*"l     +  !"%•"»*•     r**%  t-wv*  *-*•"*  t  s\i  i  f* 


whose  service  alone  can  be  found  that  harmonious 
exercise  of  the  f; 
perfect  freedom. 


exercise  of  the  faculties  which  is  synonymous  with 


Q.  5.   What  is  meant  by  good  and  evil? 

A.  Good  is  that  which  promotes  development, 
and  is  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God.  It  is  akin 
to  health  and  beauty  and  happiness. 

Evil  is  that  which  retards  or  frustrates  develop- 
ment, and  injures  some  part  of  the  universe.  It  is 
akin  to  disease  and  ugliness  and  misery. 

Q.  6.  How  does  man  know  good  from  evil? 

A.  His  own  nature,  when  uncorrupted  by  greed, 
is  sufficiently  in  tune  with  the  universe  to  enable 
him  to  be  well  aware  in  general  of  what  is  a  help  or 
hinderance  to  the  guiding  Spirit,  of  which  he  him- 
self is  a  real  and  effective  portion. 


THE    CATECHISM  139 

Q.   7.  How  comes  it  that  evil  exists  ? 

A.  Evil  is  not  an  absolute  thing,  but  has  refer- 
ence to  a  standard  of  attainment.  The  possibility 
of  evil  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  a  rise  in  the 
scale  of  moral  existence;  just  as  an  organism  whose 
normal  temperature  is  far  above  "absolute  zero" 
is  necessarily  liable  to  damaging  and  deadly  cold. 
But  cold  is  not  in  itself  a  positive  or  created  thing. 

Q.  8.   What  is  sin? 

A.  Sin  is  the  deliberate  and  wilful  act  of  a  free 
agent  who  sees  the  better  and  chooses  the  worse, 
and  thereby  acts  injuriously  to  himself  and  others. 
The  root  sin  is  selfishness,  whereby  needless  trouble 
and  pain  are  inflicted  on  others;  when  fully  de- 
veloped it  involves  moral  suicide. 

Q.  9.  Are  there  beings  lower  in  the  scale  of  exist- 
ence than  man  ? 

A.  Yes,  multitudes.  In  every  part  of  the  earth 
where  life  is  possible,  there  we  find  it  developed. 
Life  exists  in  every  variety  of  animal,  in  earth  and 
air  and  sea,  and  in  every  species  of  plant. 

Q.  IO.  Are  there  any  beings  higher  in  the  scale  of 
existence  than  man  ? 

A.  Man  is  the  highest  of  the  dwellers  on  the 
planet  earth,  but  the  earth  is  only  one  of  many 
planets  warmed  by  the  sun,  and  the  sun  is  only  one 


140  THE    CATECHISM 

of  a  myriad  of  similar  suns,  which  are  so  far  off 
that  we  barely  see  them,  and  group  them  indis- 
criminately as  "stars."  We  may  reasonably  con- 
jecture that  in  some  of  the  innumerable  worlds 
circling  round  those  distant  suns  there  must  be 
beings  far  higher  in  the  scale  of  existence  than 
ourselves;  indeed,  we  have  no  knowledge  which 
enables  us  to  assert  the  absence  of  intelligence 
anywhere. 

Q.  II.  What  caused  and  what  maintains  exist- 
ence? 

A.  Of  our  own  knowledge  we  are  unable  to 
realize  the  meaning  of  origination  or  of  mainte- 
nance; all  that  we  ourselves  can  accomplish  in  the 
physical  world  is  to  move  things  into  desired  posi- 
tions, and  leave  them  to  act  on  each  other.  Nev- 
ertheless our  effective  movements  are  all  inspired  by 
thought,  and  so  we  conceive  that  there  must  be 
some  Intelligence  immanent  in  all  the  processes  of 
nature,  for  they  are  not  random  or  purposeless,  but 
organized  and  beautiful. 

Q.  12.  What  is  to  be  said  of  man's  higher  fac- 
ulties ? 

A.  The  faculties  and  achievements  of  the  highest 
among  mankind — in  Art,  in  Science,  in  Philosophy, 
and  in  Religion — are  not  explicable  as  an  outcome 
of  a  struggle  for  existence.  Something  more  than 


THE    CATECHISM  141 

mere  life  is  possessed  by  us — something  represented 
by  the  words  "mind"  and  "soul"  and  "spirit." 
On  one  side  we  are  members  of  the  animal  king- 
dom; on  another  we  are  associates  in  a  loftier  type 
of  existence,  and  are  finked  with  the  Divine. 

Q.   13.  Is  man  helped  in  his  struggle  upward? 

A.  There  is  a  Power  in  the  Universe  vastly  be- 
yond our  comprehension;  and  we  trust  and  believe 
that  it  is  a  Good  and  Loving  Power,  able  and  will- 
ing to  help  us  and  all  creatures,  and  to  guide  us 
wisely,  without  detriment  to  our  incipient  freedom. 
This  Loving-kindness  continually  surrounds  us;  in 
it  we  live  and  have  our  real  being;  it  is  the  main- 
spring of  joy  and  love  and  beauty,  and  we  call  it 
the  Grace  of  God.  It  sustains  and  enriches  all 
worlds,  and  may  take  a  multiplicity  of  forms;  but 
it  was  manifested  to  dwellers  on  this  planet  in  the 
Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  through  whose  spirit  and  liv- 
ing influence  the  race  of  man  may  hope  to  rise  to 
heights  at  present  inaccessible. 

Q.  14.  How  may  we  become  informed  concerning 
things  too  high  for  our  own  knowledge? 

A.  We  should  strive  to  learn  from  the  great 
teachers,  the  prophets  and  poets  and  saints  of  the 
human  race,  and  should  seek  to  know  and  to  inter- 
pret their  inspired  writings. 


142  THE    CATECHISM 

<2-  15.  What,  then,  do  you  reverently  believe  can 
be  deduced  from  a  study  of  the  records  and  traditions 
of  the  past  in  the  light  of  the  present? 

A.  I  believe  in  one  Infinite  and  Eternal  Being, 
a  guiding  and  loving  Father,  in  whom  all  things 
consist. 

I  believe  that  the  Divine  Nature  is  specially  re- 
vealed to  man  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lordfwho 
lived  and  taught  and  suffered  in  Palestine  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago,  and  has  since  been  worshipped 
by  the  Christian  Church  as  the  immortal  Son  of 
God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

I  believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  ever  ready  to 
help  us  along  the  Way  towards  Goodness  and 
Truth;  that  prayer  is  a  means  of  communion  be- 
tween man  and  God;  and  that  it  is  our  privilege 
through  faithful  service  to  enter  into  the  Life 
Eternal,  the  Communion  of  Saints,  and  the  Peace 
of  God. 

Q.   16.   What  do  you  mean  by  the  Life  Eternal? 

A.  I  mean  that  whereas  our  terrestrial  existence 
is  temporary,  our  real  existence  continues  without 
ceasing,  in  either  a  higher  or  a  lower  form,  accord- 
ing to  our  use  of  opportunities  and  means  of  grace; 
and  that  the  fulness  of  Life  ultimately  attainable 
represents  a  growing  perfection  at  present  incon- 
ceivable by  us. 


THE    CATECHISM  143 

Q.  17.  What  Is  the  significance  of  the  "Com- 
munion of  Saints"? 

A.  Higher  and  holier  beings  must  possess,  in 
fuller  fruition,  those  privileges  of  communion  which 
are  already  foreshadowed  by  our  own  faculties  of 
language,  of  sympathy,  and  of  mutual  aid;  and  as 
we  find  that  man's  power  of  friendly  help  is  not 
confined  to  his  fellows,  but  extends  to  other  ani- 
mals, so  may  we  conceive  ourselves  part  of  a 
mighty  Fellowship  of  love  and  service. 

Q.   1 8.   What  do  you  understand  by  prayer? 

A.  I  understand  that  when  our  spirits  are  at- 
tuned to  the  Spirit  of  Righteousness,  our  hopes  and 
aspirations  exert  an  influence  far  beyond  their  con- 
scious range,  and  in  a  true  sense  bring  us  into  com- 
munion with  our  Heavenly  Father.  This  power 
of  filial  communion  is  called  prayer;  it  is  an 
attitude  of  mingled  wdrship  and  supplication;  we 
offer  petitions  in  a  spirit  of  trust  and  submission, 
and  endeavor  to  realize  the  Divine  attributes,  with 
the  help  and  example  of  Christ. 

Q,.  Rehearse  the  prayer  taught  us  by  Jesus. 
A.  Our  Father,  etc. 

Q.   19.  Explain  the  purport  of  this  prayer. 
A.  We  first  attune  our  spirit  to  consciousness 
of  the  Divine  Fatherhood;    trying  to  realize  His 


144  THE    CATECHISM 

infinite  holiness  as  well  as  His  loving-kindness, 
desiring  that  everything  alien  to  His  will  should 
cease  in  our  hearts  and  in  the  world,  and  longing 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Then  we  ask  for  the  supply  of  the  ordinary  needs 
of  existence,  and  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins 
and  shortcomings  just  as  we  pardon  those  who 
have  hurt  us.  We  pray  to  be  kept  from  evil  in- 
fluences, and  to  be  protected  when  they  attack  us. 
Finally,  we  repose  in  the  might,  majesty,  and 
dominion  of  the  Eternal  Goodness. 

Q.  20.  What  is  meant  by  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  ? 

A.  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  the  central  feat- 
ure of  practical  Christianity.  It  represents  a  har- 
monious condition  in  which  the  Divine  Will  is 
perfectly  obeyed;  it  signifies  the  highest  state  of 
existence,  both  individual  and  social,  which  we  can 
conceive.  Our  whole  effort  should,  directly  or  in- 
directly, make  ready  its  way, — in  our  hearts,  in  our 
lives,  and  in  the  lives  of  others.  It  is  the  ideal  state 
of  society  towards  which  Reformers  are  striving;  it 
is  the  ideal  of  conscious  existence  towards  which 
Saints  aim. 

THE    END 


ARV  FACILITY 


000376892    6 


